


The Tales of Terror: Fear Revealed

by katyhorrorpictureshow (orphan_account)



Category: Legend (1985), Universal's Halloween Horror Nights
Genre: F/M, Horror, Survival, Zombie Apocalypse, multiple POVs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-02-17 04:16:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 73,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2296316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/katyhorrorpictureshow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The town of Carey, Ohio is mostly known for sightings of the supernatural. However, on the twentieth cycle, the physical embodiment of fear, Lord Adaru, is destined to be released from his lantern, and his heralds will ensure that his purpose is fulfilled. Now, with the undead freely roaming Carey in strengthening numbers, the citizens of Carey turn to the Zombie Awareness Program, the only ones brave enough to fight the dead. However, when a tragedy strikes among the fighters of Z.A.P., they'll have to take their survival skills to the next level.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: A New Age of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I sort of introduce Fear, Lady Luck, and the heralds, and the plot concerning the HHN characters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4/17/15: Chapter revised to explain more of Lady Luck's abilities, and a bit of history behind Carey, Ohio and the Zombie Awareness Program.

**Prologue: A New Age of Darkness**

Nineteen years… nineteen cycles.

What were merely nineteen years on Earth were eons to him, time drifting away slowly like sand. He remained shut in the lantern that spit out nothing but fire for all these years , craving the screams the mortals held inside of them, relishing the echoes of their pitiful cries. In his bones, he felt the time for his release was just on the horizon; it would be very soon when his physical, demonic form would soar from out of his prison, an ancient lantern, and confront the undead again. Eventually, he would dominate over the living and stand aside the Gods, the most powerful forces on Earth.

Such was the current fate for Lord Adaru, the overlord of fear.

He held his title since time began, but his power was not strong enough to rule over bodies of people; every five thousand years that passed, he had the opportunity to reign, but with every opportunity there came failure in not finding enough souls. Yet, he deemed himself to be regal, wearing a torn green cape and ridged poles that served as man-made wings, torn cheesecloth swaying in his smooth, gliding walk. His appearance would definitely not be considered as such; his darkened skin was covered with brambly roots, and his eye sockets were hollow. His teeth were sharp and always coated with saliva, formed from his hunger for mortal souls. As the cycles passed on, the Roman numerals of the recent years that passed would etch into his skin, forming permanent scars.

Since he was also a king, a king would need his advisors, his heralds. With every five thousand years that he was given the chance to rule, he would recruit five undead beings to become his heralds, to personify the five key elements of fear: chaos, death, sacrifice, legend , and vengeance. Normally, Lord Adaru would’ve chosen these beings himself, prowling through the underground in search of corpses, reviving them for interviews. But for the next twenty cycles in which he was dormant, reeling in embarrassment over failing himself and the higher gods once again, he had chosen someone else for this position, someone of more experience with configuring fates.

Fortuna, or more commonly known as Lady Luck, held a vast memory inside of her, remembering each name of whoever fell upon her cursed unluckiness. Manipulation was her game. She would transform herself into many different guises, choosing the right one for the right situation. She had been doing this since man was able to make choices, so she was familiar with Adaru and his purposes. In the underworld of the evilest gods and goddesses, Fate and Fear were the ones who reigned supreme. With their forces combined, the end of humanity would arrive.

After Luck made a feasible pitch for her best friend, Adaru hired her right on the spot. She was someone whom he could ultimately trust, as her powers were quickly reaching the same level as his. And soon, during the next two decades of painful waiting and relentless searching, Luck used her special ability to persuade people into making horrible decisions, all while she dwelled into various parts of the world to find candidates perfect enough to serve for Fear. She reached out to those who were near death to save their souls, to lure them into an afterlife with many benefits. It amused the goddess how quick some were to take on the risks of fame and power; little did they know of the price they needed to pay once their time with Fear was up.

Through struggle and stealth, and tirades and temptation, Luck found five people to serve as Adaru's council, the Order of Fear.

Jack Schmidt, an old circus clown turned ringmaster who became the herald of Chaos.

Albert Caine, a mortuary caretaker whose deadly experimenting ruled him the perfect man to be the herald of Death.

Paolo Ravinski, a film director with a demented vision that spelled out his fate as the herald of Sacrifice.

Elsa Strict, a writer with the ability to create worlds that would deem her the herald of Legend.

And Julian Browning, a movie theater usher whose dedication to protecting his beloved Universal Palace Theater swore him in as the herald of Vengeance.

By the time Julian was chosen, there was no time left for waiting. The twentieth cycle would begin exactly a year later, on the twenty-fourth day of September. The night already unfurled its dark wings, and the master needed to be unleashed from his prison.

Fear was to be released from the lantern and revealed to the dead tonight.

Luck summoned all the new heralds via an invocation and directed them to enter Fear’s underground cavern, a location so hidden it was presumed to be in the depths of Hell. Once the new heralds entered, they noticed Luck holding a lantern spitting out flames; she was eager to summon her master forth.

“My friends,” Luck spoke, “throughout the years, I have assigned you to be the heralds for our Lord of Fear, on his behalf. You must understand that now, it is your duty to personify the element of fear for which you have been assigned.”

“Who the hell are you?” Jack, the herald of Chaos, asked rudely.

Luck briefly smirked, cocking her head to face Jack, a dangerous spark rising in her green, cat-like irises. “I am Lady Luck, the goddess of choice and fate. Arranging fate has been my purpose since time began, thus bringing myself closer to Fear than you would ever imagine. We share quite a special bond, Adaru and I.” She turned her attention back to the lantern. “Now, we must reawaken our master back to his physical form, so he may wreak havoc over the foolish mortals and reign over fear again! Now, if you all may please join hands.”

The heralds hesitated as they shifted around to join each other’s hands, forming a circle that Luck stood in the middle of. She raised the lantern high in the air, the flames bursting out more wildly and brightly as she wildly chanted a spell in Latin tongue . Enlightened, she glanced back at the confused heralds.

“I was certain that none of you would be able to recite the message on the first try,” she told them coyly. “I shall repeat it, but slower, and you all must repeat after me.”

Luck chanted the message more clearly and slower, stopping occasionally for the heralds to repeat. After about two attempts, Luck believed that the heralds were now ready to bring Fear’s physical entity back to life. “We are ready! Now, we shall all recite the message together.”

The echoing of the spell chorused throughout the cavern, each repeat sounding more menacing and malicious than the previous. Eventually, the lantern shot itself out of Luck’s bare hands, the raging fire presumably burning down the earth that she and the heralds stood upon. The flames formed a circle as the fire raged on and on, rising about fifteen feet from off the earth. When the flames calmed down, ashes rained down on a tall demon, sprouting out of the flames like a phoenix’s rebirth.

“Meet your new heralds, Adaru,” Luck told her muse as the fire completely died. “It took me a bit longer than I hoped to find them, but I think you will be pleased. All of them have sworn loyalty to us and wish to help you with your conquest of usurping the world with lifelong fear.”

Adaru lumbered towards the heralds, growling in satisfaction. “My heralds,” he spoke deeply, “I have been revealed. I am Fear! I exist inside all of you, yet I demand more… I crave your absolute horror, and I shall have it !”

“Adaru,” Luck added softly, “do not forget the mortals. Perhaps their fear and terror is more important than anything else.”

“Ah, yes, the souls. They are what I need to thrive!” Lord Adaru turned back to the five undead beings. “You persons of the undead will now serve as my heralds, bringing forth the key element you personify to the living, so you may watch them suffer over the rule of fear. The living must respect your being, for if not, they shall perish! However, I do not want their souls to go to waste. You must bring them forth to me, so I may live for the next nineteen cycles destined for my new life, and possibly, for the rest of the time that the earth shall turn.”

“What exactly are your plans to vanquish the living, my lord?” Paolo inquired. “I need some new scenes for my new film, and —"

“Lord Adaru shall dare not be questioned,” Luck interrupted him stiffly, “and in turn, he shall not question you. Being the herald of sacrifice is your own responsibility, and I have chosen you specifically on our Lord’s behalf. Do not worry about Lord Adaru’s plans for the living – you shall know soon enough.”

A boulder-rock then rolled out of the way via Lord Adaru’s telekinesis, revealing the opening of the Portmanteau, which would link the heralds’ homes with the cavern. “Now, you are free to return to the aboveground and begin your duties,” Adaru told his heralds. “On the fifteenth day of the eleventh month, we shall meet again and start discussing our plans for the All Hallows’ Eve of the next cycle, where harvesting souls shall be of serious importance.”

Adaru indeed had his own plans to wreak havoc among the living. They involved summoning all forms of the undead to be segregated into his legions, which would fight all the mortals that dwelled in Earth for his own glory. The legions would assist his heralds in claiming mortal souls, which would then die and become one with the supernatural afterlife, being forced to join the legions as his soldiers. After all, a king also needed his army, and with it, his power would surely increase enough for him to travel from country to country.

When the heralds departed from Lord Adaru’s cavern, Fear and Fate got right to work with sorting the heralds into the legions they would dictate and lead.

“We shall begin slowly,” Lord Adaru said while one of his shadow demons served him elderberry wine. “First, I will release some of the living dead to the aboveground, to feast upon the living and capture their souls.”

“You mean the Kerezans?” Luck questioned.

“Yes, the Kerezans; the slower, less intelligent ones. Those mortals don’t have the capability to distinguish an intelligent Kerezan with a dumbfound one . The Kerezans will be their grisly reminder that the other legions will show up with time, and once they do, the mortal population will surely decrease. It will be absolute mayhem, for death cannot escape them. The heralds will be put into place to ensure that my purpose is acted upon.”

“Well, some of your heralds have professions in the aboveground,” Luck mentioned. “The herald of vengeance is a movie theater usher, and the herald of sacrifice is a filmmaker. In the past, chaos was a circus clown, death was a mortuary caretaker, and legend was a struggling writer.”

“Sacrifice would be perfect for your legion, Fortuna. He’s an excited, creative individual from what you’ve told me before. As for Vengeance… where to put him…”

"I have already sorted him into the Kerezan legion, my lord. Let's just say he did some rather troubling things that earned him the spot. Although he is one perhaps smarter than most, I have turned him in to the Iniquitus and ensured he become a zombie for the vengeful actions he has done."

“Then Kerezan he shall be. You probably should tell me what Vengeance has done to earn your spite, Fortuna. And for the other three… the clown looks like a candidate for Morphan, a clever trickster, and the old man a candidate for Baccanoid, a noble of great lineage. That leaves Maschorian for the elderly woman.”

Luck didn’t even need to question Adaru’s plans. “Perfect plans, my lord.”

“And you have chosen the suitable persons needed for the positions of my heralds. I believe these five shall be my most loyal heralds ever. They exist aboveground already, so we will receive souls quickly. With these mortal souls, I will have power, and once they join my legions, I will be the ultimate power on Earth!”

“But where do we start?” Luck intervened. “We cannot simply start with a popular city like New York or my favored Las Vegas. We need to start somewhere where the supernatural wouldn’t be much of a surprise.”

After a bit of careful thinking and searching through Fortuna’s memory, the entities chose Carey, Ohio, a town plagued with supernatural disasters for many years. Carey also happened to be the town where Julian’s Universal Palace Theater was located, as well as the Caine manor, home of Dr. Albert Caine. The manor was hidden by many thin, dark trees, a wooded lot in practically the middle of nowhere . It would be the perfect meeting place for the heralds; they would only appear in Carey’s streets for means of death, and then disappear to return to the manor hidden in the woods, where no one would dare to look.

The citizens of Carey were no strangers to sightings of ghosts or the occasional wandering zombie. The supernatural had first come in small doses; documents mark that the first time a ghost was spotted was in 2006, when four teenagers dared to hold a séance in the abandoned Wyandot Manor, now owned by the Caine family. They quickly disappeared, never to be seen again, but most of the town's citizens weren't fooled to believe this. Over the years, as the supernatural occurrences strengthened, so did the losses of mortal life, in an increasing amount that people started to be worried and take notice that something was seriously wrong with this town.

When Lord Adaru first unleashed the Kerezans right before the beginning of the twentieth cycle, the streets of Carey remained vacant of its citizens, who normally passed and even said hello to the wandering undead as if they were a joke. This was their warning that something more dangerous and serious would occur in the upcoming month. Unfortunately, these Kerezans were the most powerful and strongest zombies known to ever enter Carey, and in a bizarre yet shocking twist, half of Carey's population disappeared through means of successful escape or grisly death. All of their souls of course went to Adaru, in his quest to vanquish the living and infest the world with fear. Now, the remainder of Carey's citizens feared even stepping out of their homes for minor reasons such as grocery shopping, because wherever they went, the undead were lurking in increasing amounts.

Enter the Zombie Awareness Program. Their mission was to aid the frightened and train the determined, making Carey's streets battlefields almost every day. They kept a low profile, hiding out in an abandoned warehouse, where those who wished to join ZAP’s ranks learned the skills of survival and weaponry. The trainees of ZAP always wore black leather and wielded either guns or chainsaws, and ran through the streets of Carey, slicing and dicing their way through the undead . Those brave enough to go outside unarmed watched in awe whenever ZAP's trainees were out on their missions, and commended their efforts as they struggled to stay alive. It was surprising enough that the Order of Fear, which consisted of Adaru, Fortuna, and the heralds hadn't taken note of ZAP's existence just yet.

To anyone who was too weak or scared to confront the dead, ZAP was their only savior now.


	2. ZombieGeddon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just another day for the Zombie Awareness Program as they fight and kill the undead. But, a threat to the business is introduced, starting the madness that will occur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Blood, gore, guns, violence, and brief language.
> 
> So, my Original Characters make their first appearances in this chapter. Right now, they're fighters for the Zombie Awareness Program, but just wait for what happens when the story progresses. Not giving anything away! I tried to write Tom and George the best way I could, seeing as the whole ZombieGeddon queue video isn't available in good quality. So, if they're out of character in this, I'm sorry. Also, this chapter has a hint as to how I write Eddie (Jack's brother); I write him a little differently than how he's normally depicted in the fandom.
> 
> That's it for my notes! Enjoy the chapter!
> 
> 4/17/15: Chapter edited to explain Katharine, Lacey, and Chase's origins and relationships more.

**1\. ZombieGeddon**

 

  **Saturday, October 23rd, 2010. The western outskirts of Carey, Ohio. 6:35 pm.**

An atmosphere worthy of a suspenseful horror movie unfurled. Fog washed away vision of the vacant streets of the western area of Carey, and the blinking marquee lights of the Universal Palace Theater showed through the thick veil. A bullet pierced through the clear clouds and crashed down to the ground, a warning sign for the rebellion to come. Out of the fog emerged a young woman in her early twenties , dressed in a leather jacket and tight jeans, her long, dark brown hair tied in a messy ponytail. She was armed with a tall rifle, a Marlin 1894 CB, and a look of determination, a face hardened by war.

“Where are you, zombies?” The young woman’s cocky voice pierced through the silence. “You can’t hide from us much longer!”

This young woman was Katharine Romero , daughter of the zombie enthusiast Tom Romero, the founder of the Zombie Awareness Program along with his friend, George Savini. Ever since she was born, Katharine was trained to fight. Chained up zombies with muzzles took the place of Barbie dolls, and shooting lessons replaced her dance lessons. In her free time, Katharine would watch several different horror movies alongside her father – some that they’ve already seen – to pick up more tactics to use in battle, or to find stand-offish tics of a zombie, or any other supernatural creature for the matter.

Zombie hunting had been most of Katharine's life. She remembered when her mother begged for her not to take on her father's work, thinking it was too risky and dangerous. "Zombies aren't real," she would say, "and even then, they'd be nothing but a nuisance." But after Katharine's mother perished in a grisly Mardi Gras parade turned deadly, she made the best decision of her life; to fight the dead to protect the living. It was her mantra that she swore by. If the world was overcome by the undead apocalypse, who would be there to keep the mortals safe?

“Chase! Lacey! You guys are being too slow!” Katharine turned back to two other people, her friends and fellow comrades, as she liked to call them in ‘battle mode’. Chase and Lacey struggled through the thick fog, which was made evident through Lacey’s violent coughs and Chase’s squinting which was so tight that Katharine couldn’t see his blue eyes.

“Well, sorry!” Lacey snapped as she approached Katharine’s side, a protective, nervous hand on her Glock 17 holster. She was Katharine’s best friend, turning to ZAP after her mother got killed by a Kerezan in the first unleashing of the undead, nicknamed the First Undead War. “I can’t see a damn thing in this fog right now!”

“It’s a good thing that I haven’t seen any zombies lurking around yet,” Katharine told Lacey while staring out into the street, watching carefully for hidden zombies. “Normally they hang out near this movie theater.”

“We should start calling this area Deadtropolis!” Chase suggested with a laugh. He was Katharine’s boyfriend and ZAP’s resident trickster. It had taken him a while to find his place in the battle between living and dead, but through Katharine’s guidance, bravery easily overcame his dark past. “You know, since the undead practically live here now! That usher who’s always chilling in the ticket booth seems to be dead himself!”

“Shhh!” Lacey hissed. “I think I hear one!”

A few seconds later, the comrades realized that Lacey was right, the moan of a hungry zombie in search of brains echoing through the street. Slowly but surely, a mass of Kerezans, dressed in their old torn-up civilian clothes, stumbled closer to them mindlessly. Their mouths were agape in hunger, wanting the sweet taste of human flesh in between their jagged, rotten teeth.

“There they are!” Katharine exclaimed in excitement, loading up her Marlin. “They look ferocious this evening!”

Katharine and Lacey placed their fingers on the triggers of their guns in anticipation of the first shoot, and Chase started to rev up his chainsaw. Through the viewfinder of her rifle, Katharine aimed for the first zombie that approached her, carefully lining up the target marks to the zombie’s head.

“Wait for it…” Chase murmured. “Wait for it…”

“Are you ready to kick some zombie ass?” Lacey whispered to Katharine.

“You bet your ass I am!” Katharine whispered back. “Better stay safe, though. ZAP doesn’t need another dumb trainee’s soul to be claimed on the battlefield!”

It was unfortunately true; the young adult training division only consisted of Katharine, Lacey, and Chase at the current time. The others who managed to make their way onto the team typically passed away after their third mission, as hunting the undead became too much for them to handle.

“Fighters!” one of the speech-capable zombies moaned.

“Now!” Katharine shouted.

The fighting began almost immediately. Katharine approached a zombie and used her bare hands to snap his neck, breaking it right away, and then used her Marlin to shoot a bullet right into the zombie’s mouth. Lacey used her Glock to shoot a bullet into a zombie’s head, and as if by luck, the bullet pierced right through the area of the still-functioning brain, spreading little amounts of gore into the air. Chase was a madman with his chainsaw, shoving its charging blade deep into a zombie’s stomach, spewing out copious amounts of blood and eventually, intestines.

Lacey didn’t take the idea of getting messy in battle very lightly. “Damn it!” she exclaimed as she pushed a deceased zombie aside. A small chunk of his brain had gotten onto Lacey’s leather jacket, and now, she was distracted with pushing it away. “I got zombie brain on me again!”

“Just keep fighting, Lacey!” Chase exclaimed as he decapitated another zombie with his chainsaw. “We’ve got about a dozen left, anyway!”

The comrades were completely unaware that the Universal Palace Theater had opened its doors for the evening. The usher and manager of the movie theater, Julian Browning, watched the battle between dead and living through the porthole window of the Art-Deco designed doors. Enraged after what he witnessed, he swung the doors open and hid in his ticket booth, watching the comrades with a keen, not blind eye for any other wrongdoings.

He continued to watch the three kick, shoot, and stab their way through the dead in extreme dismay. _These senseless young adults ought to be taken to Lord Adaru and Lady Luck for performing such a crime, killing his fellow Kerezans_ , Julian thought. He is the herald of vengeance after all, believing that crimes should not go unpunished.

Julian detected the leader of these rebels, a young woman wearing leather and a crooked smile. She took up the offer of using a chainsaw provided by a young man with black hair in his eyes, and used it to decapitate one of the last zombies remaining. Blood squirted in many directions, including on the ticket booth window, which infuriated him.

“Imbeciles,” Julian muttered to himself, climbing out of the ticket booth to retrieve a cloth to clean the blood. “They’ll see what happens when the Order of Fear is rebelled against.”

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, there was only one Kerezan left.

“Let’s make this last one’s death an act of love,” Chase told Katharine. “Kat, help me out.”

Katharine stood behind Chase as he proceeded to rev up his chainsaw. She placed spare, fresh bullets that she had in her holster pocket, and after a moment, she started to shoot the still-walking zombie right in the head. Despite the wound, the zombie still walked, which prompted Chase to go up to it and slice it right across the torso. Now that the zombie’s body was in two, Katharine ran up to the zombie and shot it right in the heart, rendering it dead.

The comrades, messy with gore and sweating like mad, were now completed with their mission.

“We did it again, friends!” Katharine cheered in triumph, hugging Lacey and giving a quick kiss to Chase. “Another group of zombies are dead!”

“Just another day of slaying zombies for mortal conquest,” Chase remarked. “I mean, if that’s such a thing anymore.”

The comrades ran back to base, eager to tell Tom about their successful mission of wiping out almost thirty undead to oblivion. However, the triumphant ones failed to notice that Julian left his theater behind and was slowly creeping up to them, following their every move to invoke his vengeance upon Katharine for killing members of his legion.

* * *

 

The music of Rob Zombie pumped loudly through the speakers of the Zombie Awareness Program base’s three different training rooms. Katharine and her comrades paraded through the room designed for the test zombies, which were chained up to a pole by their wrists. The zombies growled as the remaining trainees shot them with their rifles and crossbows, soft pellets replacing ammo.

“Hey buddy, you might want to aim that crossbow just a bit higher!” Chase advised a young man armed with a crossbow. “If you’re too low, you won’t hit the zombie in the right place!”

"But what if I hit it in the torso?" the young man, named Daryl asked. "Wouldn't that be good enough?"

"Well, it's a start," Chase replied, "but if you really want the zombie to die, aim for the head. That's the number one spot for it to just go boom, splat!"

In a secluded spot away from the action, Katharine found her little sister Hayley sitting near the supply closet, reading _The Zombie Survival Guide_ by Max Brooks with a highlighter in hand. In Carey, a work of fiction relating to the supernatural or the undead could now be considered a survival guide, and Hayley’s book was no exception.

“Hey, Hayley!” Katharine crouched down to the chair’s level. “Are you studying hard?”

“Yeah,” Hayley murmured quietly, adjusting her eyeglasses.

Hayley was a shy, fourteen year old girl who secretly wished to be out on the battlefield with her older sister and her friends, yet was deemed too young by her father and George; the minimum age to even start training was sixteen because of all the risks that zombie hunting provided, such as being fatally wounded or bitten. She hadn’t shown an interest in zombie hunting until recently, and even then, Tom babied her as she was his “precious little angel”. Hayley was too shy to speak up against her father’s thoughts, and thus kept to herself. For now, she was given a copy of the famous survival guide to study from.

“Let me see what chapter you’re reading.” Hayley bent back the corner of her book to show Katharine the title of the chapter she was on. “Terrain types… oh yeah, the forest! Forests can be quite deadly, sissy. Rumor even says that there’s some type of manor where the entire Order of Fear gather together! Of course, the comrades and I never found it, not yet, anyway!”

“Are you sure our base is safe from all the zombies out there, Kathy?” Hayley asked. “I… I mean, they could come in at any minute—“

“Of course it is!” Katharine beamed proudly. “We’ve basically got all of the zombie hunting equipment that exists, and whenever a zombie tries to break in, we’ve got the security machine guns out front! They’ll be nothing but shredded flesh by the time they reach the door!”

“Hey, kids!” a man bellowed loudly. A broad, heavily muscled man walked in wielding two newly cleaned bludgeons, his orange jumpsuit stained with sweat.

“Daddy!” Katharine squealed, running to her father. She hugged him, not minding how profusely her father was sweating. “Daddy, we killed thirty more zombies out there!”

“That’s great!” Tom complimented, smiling. “You know what I always say! The more zombies dead, the more time wasted Lord Adaru’s heralds dread!”

“And hopefully he won’t rear his ugly, demonic head!” Katharine added.

ZAP’s staff already knew quite a lot about Lord Adaru, who started all the chaos that inspired them to thrive in the art of zombie, and later supernatural hunting. Eddie Schmidt, a friend of the Romeros, informed them of Lord Adaru’s plans and about his heralds that lurked in practically every corner of Carey. Eddie was the brother of Jack Schmidt, the herald of chaos, which made him the go-to for information about the heralds and Lord Adaru.

“You better be damn careful when you see them,” Eddie had told them. “If you disrespect any of the heralds in the slightest, they’ll have your fucking throat. They’ll use it as an advantage for another soul for old Adaru, who’s just desperate to have them all for his ultimate reign over the living.”

As Katharine spoke with her father and Chase assisted trainees with their aim, Lacey stood by the gun rack with her uncle, George Savini. While working on her target practice, Lacey’s favorite pistol’s trigger was loose, unable to be pressed down for a shot. As Lacey was still in training and not a higher-up like Katharine, this pistol was the only one she was able to use; that, and she was scared to approach bigger guns.

“I think it’s broken!” Lacey informed George. “Sometimes, the trigger gets stuck in the middle, and then other times, I can’t even press it down!”

“I’ll see what I can do, sweetheart,” George told his niece. “Right now, it looks like you’re probably going to need a new Glock entirely. This Glock’s old, it’s overused. How about you level up to a Remington 870? They’re small, but they’re pretty great, too!”

“No way! I’m not good with big weapons like Katharine, Uncle George. I told you that too many times! And besides, I haven’t leveled up in my skill yet. Tom still needs to do the aim test with me later!”

George and Lacey’s conversation was interrupted as the huge metal door of Training Room #2 swung open, creating a loud noise when it bounced off of the metal walls. The trainees jumped in shock and saw a tall, pale man dressed as a movie theater usher gliding in nonchalantly, a torch-styled flashlight in his gloved hands. The dark under-eye circles, cloudy eye, and elongated red rope burn that circled around his entire neck clearly gave the fact away that he was undead.

“A Kerezan! Somebody shoot him!” Andrea, a female comrade-in-training screamed.

“Damn it!” Tom exclaimed. “The security machine guns must be out of ammo! They would’ve gotten this fucker in a heartbeat!”

Everyone remained frozen as one of the most intelligent undead made his way toward Tom.

“Mr. Romero, I presume?" the usher asked, approaching Tom by the bludgeon rack. "If you don’t mind me intruding, we have some important… business to take care of. I am Julian Browning, Lord Adaru’s herald of vengeance.”

The trainees gasped, a fury of whispers circling among them.

“Yeah, yeah, we know who you are,” Tom replied sharply. “Just because you’re an intelligent zombie doesn’t mean we care what you have to say. What the hell do you want?”

“We prefer the term ‘undead’ or ‘Kerezan’, Mr. Romero,” Julian immediately replied. “Speaking of Kerezan, I was witness to about thirty of them being slayed by three of your… fighters. You do know that this is a violation of Lord Adaru’s orders, correct?”

“Fuck Lord Adaru!” Rick, another trainee yelled from a distance. “He’s the one responsible for everything that’s—“

“I did not ask for any mortal’s opinion,” Julian spoke with no change in his monotonous voice as he charged toward Rick. Julian flicked his flashlight on, and using the brightened part of it, he pressed it onto Rick’s arm, eventually burning into his flesh. “You dare not speak about our lord that way, do you understand me ?” He pressed the flashlight onto Rick’s arm more aggressively, making the burn deeper as well. The burn became too intense for Rick that he fell to the floor, slowly becoming unconscious.

Julian then turned his attention back to the stunned comrades and staff. “Furthermore, I’ve noticed that the persons I saw killing my fellow Kerezans, as well as the other legions in the past, had a leader to guide them… a woman with a rifle, I recall.”

Katharine’s blood thinned when she realized the usher was speaking about her. His cold gaze on her made her chuckle nervously, thinking of how to defeat him in whatever game he was playing. “Are you talking about me, Mr. Creepy Usher Man? I couldn’t have possibly killed your zombie friends out there!”

“But you did,” Julian replied coldly. “I’ve watched you for the past few months shooting your rounds and ridding them of their precious afterlives. I am not a gullible man, Ms. Romero, which is precisely why I have decided to visit your establishment today.”

Tom jumped in front of his daughter in defense. “You will not infect my daughter with the Kerezan outbreak! Just because she killed your type of undead doesn’t mean she should be punished for killing Strengoit or Cerebin!”

“Believe me, Mr. Romero,” Julian continued, “I have Strengoit acquaintances that have definitely complained of their legion slowly dying out because of your daughter and her friends. They kill them every day in front of my theater.”

“We need to kill all the undead or else Carey’s entire population will be dead and Lord Adaru’s going to take over!” Katharine declared. “Just take a good look at our name, the Zombie Awareness Program . We’re making the undead known to everyone too scared to even come out of their houses, and getting rid of the threat they create! We’re protecting everybody from that demon and his stupid plan!”

“But you all are destroying Lord Adaru’s purpose,” Julian replied, getting closer to Katharine, “and according to his own words, any person, whether they be mortal or undead that tries to destroy his purpose, shall be put to trial immediately. Ms. Romero, I observed about five or six of your… murders, and it’s time we put an end to it.”

He offered his arm to Katharine, about to offer a choice like Luck would. “You have two choices. You can either come with me to Lord Adaru’s cavern for your trial, or I can kill you right this instant and have your soul transported.”

“How about neither of them?” Katharine asked maliciously. “Is neither of them an option?”

“I’ve got this, Kathy,” Tom whispered to Katharine, ready to strike the usher if he could. George followed him suit, while Chase stayed at the side of his girlfriend, protectively holding onto her arm. “Look, we don’t advocate your ‘kill people and send their soul to a demon’ shit, buddy. You can either leave and we can all pretend this never happened, or we can kill you with the machine guns out front, once Georgie gets them working again. Hey, look, we’re giving you choices, too!”

“Mr. Romero, are you unaware of who I am?” Julian asked incredulously.

“Of course I do! You’re just another zombie who needs to die. I don’t care if you’re one of Lord Adaru’s herald freaks—“

Julian slammed his flashlight over Tom's head, which made him trip over the linoleum floors and onto his back. Blood started to stain the gray tile, seeping out from the back of Tom's head. The trainees retreated to the back of the room, screaming and gasping, pleading for the usher to stop his attempt in killing their leader.

“Tom!” George exclaimed in horror. “Somebody get the first aid kit! Hurry!”

"You mortal fool!" Julian grabbed Tom by his throat, nearly choking him with only his hand. "Mark my words, I will have your Awareness Program shut down and have Lord Adaru's purpose take its wing. The Order of Fear cannot stand you and your fighters killing our people no longer. It is time we put an end to the war you are trying to create."

"Daddy!" Katharine shrieked, breaking from Chase's grip to kneel to her father’s level. "Oh my God, he hit you so hard... George, hurry up! We might need to stitch him up, the wound's pretty deep! Don't worry, Dad, we're going to get you better, just you wait—“

Katharine felt herself being pulled back to her feet by a force clinging to her arm. She turned her head and shuddered at the sight of Julian behind her, showing no remorse for nearly killing her father. "You motherfucker! Don't you know how your vengeance impacts others? It fucking hurts them!"

"I am the herald of vengeance," Julian stated coldly. "It is my duty to ensure that those who rebel against Adaru's rule be taken out through... the appropriate matters."

He began to drag Katharine out of the training room and back outside, ignoring her cries for help.

“Katharine!” Chase and Lacey cried, following their trusted leader out of the warehouse and to wherever the undead usher was taking her.

Julian was quick to notice the two mortals following him. “Stay back,” he warned cautiously, raising his flashlight to strike the comrades the same way he did to Tom.

“We’re attending her trial as witnesses,” Chase told Julian. “If we killed just as many undead as her, we deserve to go through what she’s going through!”

“Ms. Romero does not need any… witnesses,” Julian replied. “I am certain she will receive a lengthy sentence regardless of whomever sticks up for her.”

Chase and Lacey ignored Julian as they followed him into the Universal Palace Theater, his home. They bypassed the concession workers and the ushers watching their boss in curiosity, gasping when they recognized the fallen heroine. Julian opened a black iron gate near one of the screening rooms and descended into the dark unknown, taking Katharine along with him.

“Better start running,” Chase advised Lacey as the gate was about to lock them out.

 

 

 


	3. What is Dead May Never Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase and Lacey go to Lord Adaru's cavern for Katharine's trial. Let's just say that Katharine's sentence isn't a very good one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for blood, brief language, and a pretty gruesome zombie transformation at the end (it's two sentences long, but still).

**2\. What Is Dead May Never Die**

Just as the gate was about to slam shut, concealing the entrance to the hidden unknown, Chase caught the gate in place with his hand, letting he and Lacey slip in unnoticed. They could see the light emitting from Julian’s flashlight some feet away from them, his voice muttering a cryptic phrase. Suddenly, the unknown had a change of scenery as the atmosphere became damp and murky, the sound of dripping water echoing around Chase and Lacey. Rust-colored stalagmites crooned over their heads, trying to stab into their skulls, and a cool breeze rushed through their hair.

“Where are we?” Lacey asked Chase.

“Some type of underground place,” Chase replied, unsure of where they were.

As they walked further down the cavernous hallway, Chase and Lacey noticed a tall, dark demon with no eyes sitting on a throne built from skulls and bones, his green cape draped over his broad shoulders. Next to him stood a woman also dressed in green, her auburn hair disheveled and matted. She seemed human at first, until upon close examination, where the two saw that the woman’s face was disfigured and hag-like, bearing an ugly mouth full of small, sharp teeth.

The duo realized that these two beings were Lord Adaru and Lady Luck, the forces behind the wandering legions and the undead outbreak. Eddie had warned all of ZAP about them, telling them that their powers enhance through madness and war, and now, they were almost getting exactly what they wanted.

“My lord,” Julian spoke, “I’ve found the girl who slayed too many undead. Quite a rebellious girl, I must say. She tried defending herself out of her trial, saying that it was necessary to kill the dead because your purpose was deemed as…. ridiculous.”

Lord Adaru rose from his throne and approached Katharine, whose eyes were filled with hate and disgust. “My father told me that you’re seeking to ruin our entire world,” Katharine scoffed as Lord Adaru stared at her. “You’ve got this whole ‘infestation of fear’ bullshit that none of us support. Well, let me tell you something, you ugly son of a bitch! I rebel against you, and I, along with my comrades, have slaughtered your undead because they are killing off our population, one by one! You—“

“Silence!” Lord Adaru’s voice boomed throughout the cavern. He turned to Lady Luck and Julian. “Vengeance, go and get the rest of the heralds. Tell them that a rather eventful trial shall be taking place.”

“Yes, my lord,” Julian replied, immediately leaving the cavern.

“Fortuna,” Lord Adaru added, “I want you to send a message to the Baccanoid warriors and seize any weapons and licenses from the place the girl came from.”

“What?” Katharine yelled in protest. “You can’t just do that!”

Lord Adaru quickly turned back to Katharine. “A mortal such as you cannot understand the forces I am able to control. My herald of vengeance specifically told me that you have been defying my order, and I will take all the liberties in my power to constrain you from destroying my purpose for all of the living.”

“It was your choice,” Luck murmured as she shifted back into her beautiful, more-ladylike form, her hair becoming neater and her face contorting into a more normal structure.

“It was _my_ choice to defend my friends, family, and fellow citizens?” Katharine asked angrily. “It needed to be done! I’m not going to let myself fall into your trap!”

“And us, too,” Chase replied bravely, emerging from the boulder that he and Lacey were hiding behind. “We’re attending this trial as witnesses and support for Katharine.”

“Chase!” Katharine gasped in relief.

Luck stopped in her tracks, glancing back at Chase. “Mere mortals such as yourselves won’t even be able to get your friend out of her… predicament, if you will,” she told Chase and Lacey. “Lord Adaru has developed quite an army of Baccanoid warriors to defend him, and in addition, he has his heralds.”

“We aren’t going to give up,” Lacey said bravely to the goddess. “As long as there’s ZAP, we’ll make sure that we get most of the undead killed.”

“And how do you think you’ll defend yourselves? Words and physical threats just won’t do . Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to report to the base of your little Zombie Awareness Program and collect all of Katharine’s beloved weapons.”

As Luck sauntered through the Portmanteau’s hallway that led to the aboveground, Katharine sank down to her knees, troubled as to how to earn her freedom. Chase comforted his girlfriend, crouching down to her level. “Katharine, I know you’re strong enough to kick these heralds’ asses,” Chase said. “You’ve done it with the dumber parts of the legions, so why not the stronger ones?”

“That’s exactly the reason why, Chase!” Katharine replied with the slightest bit of uncertainty. “The heralds aren’t dumb. They’re more intelligent than the average ones and they’re more aggressive in their kills! They serve for Lord Adaru, so it’s harder to destroy them!”

Lord Adaru pushed Chase aside and placed his hands on Katharine’s leather-covered shoulders, turning her sharply to face him. “So now the undead hunter realizes her end is near,” he growled at her. “These mortals can serve as a mere audience for your sentence, and nothing more.”

“I’m still gonna fight!” Katharine exclaimed, the tiniest bit of courage saving her. “Just you wait, I’ll—“

But Katharine’s bravery wouldn’t help her out of her trial, as Lord Adaru tightly wrapped his hand around Katharine’s mouth, almost suffocating her. Two Baccanoid warriors, tattooed and muscular, came over to their lord’s aid by ripping off Katharine’s leather jacket, and then crossing her arms tightly behind her back.

“What are you doing with her?” Chase barked, running toward Katharine as Lord Adaru and the Baccanoid warriors marched to the back of the meeting chamber. “Let her go!”

The Baccanoid warriors were bearing the sharpest swords that the zombie hunting trio ever saw; these were the type of swords that would immediately make a mortal bleed whenever it punctured mortal skin, even if the tiniest tip made contact. It was no wonder that they’d acting as a force of security in the trial. If anyone spoke out of turn, made the wrong move, or tried to escape, their swords would serve as an easy weapon for a merciless, quick death.

Luck returned to the meeting chamber, Katharine’s seized license and rifle in arms, along with a now cloaked Julian and four others behind her. The other four cloaked persons were the rest of Lord Adaru’s infamous heralds, who since their induction in the last cycle grew more loyal and understanding towards their lord. They would serve as the only audience, besides Chase and Lacey for this trial.

The witnesses positioned themselves into their places; the Baccanoid warriors locked one of their arms tightly with Katharine’s, and the heralds grouped together behind Lord Adaru and Lady Luck.

“Katharine Romero,” Lord Adaru began, staring straight into her dull eyes. “You are being put on trial because you have slaughtered many of my subjects that derive from several kinds of undead, as well as convincing others to defy my orders. Furthermore, you are also being put on trial for being involved in a group specifically for killing members of my undead legions. This is a direct violation of my authority, and for this, you shall go punished for your actions. Fortuna, hand over the girl’s rifle and license.”

“Yes, my lord,” Luck murmured, placing the materials in Lord Adaru’s arms.

“Your first punishment will be that under my rule, you are no longer permitted to be involved with the Zombie Awareness Program in any shape or form. Starting tomorrow, there will be Baccanoid warriors guarding the entrance to ensure that you don’t even enter the premises, and in a few days, the program will eventually close.”

“What?!’ the trio yelled in unison.

Lord Adaru turned his attention to Chase and Lacey. “Did I not say that you are merely an audience and not part of the advisory? You best keep your mouths shut or else your tongues shall be ripped out.”

The demon resumed his business by first setting down the rifle and holding up Katharine’s plastic zombie hunting license card to his eye sockets. After a moment or so of examination, he flipped over the card so that Katharine could see her photo and information on the front. Katharine’s eyes welled up with tears as Lord Adaru used his force to snap the card in half, throwing the remainders in Katharine’s face. The heralds cackled in laughter as Katharine screamed, her life’s profession cracked in half. He returned to the Marlin to do the same, snapping the barrel in half, denting it so badly that the rifle could never be used or even repaired again.

“That was her prized possession,” Chase whispered in vain. “She got it from Wes Bousman, that famous zombie hunter.”

“The one who had half his face chewed off!” Lacey whispered back, remembering.

“As for your next punishment,” Lord Adaru continued, “this is one that will require you to leave everything and everyone behind. Your family and friends will become merely prey for you now, and you will thrive in the night and not the day. The people of Carey will no longer know you as a hunter. Now, they will know you as Katharine Romero, the undead prisoner of the Order of Fear.”

“Basically, Lord Adaru is telling you that you will become undead, like the ones you killed,” Luck added.

Katharine’s eyes widened as she stood speechless, a few tears still running down her face. “I’m… I’m gonna become undead?” she whimpered, a surprising laugh in her voice.

“What the hell is she thinking?” Chase whispered to Lacey, confused. “She sounds like she’s actually willing to do it!”

“She’s defending herself,” Lacey replied. “Give her some time.”

“My soul’s been dead for a long, long time,” Katharine confessed, smirking. “So why make me dead? To be perfectly honest with you, I already saw this coming. At some point in time, I knew the undead would eventually become too much for all of us at ZAP to handle, and we’d all die. So nice job, Mr. Demon Dude and Redhead. You tried so hard.”

Silence fell through the chamber as everyone, even the heralds stood in shock. However, Lord Adaru and Luck didn’t dismiss Katharine’s remarks as defense for getting her out of her punishments.

“Oh, I know,” Katharine replied curtly, glaring at Luck, “because I’m not gonna be your undead prisoner, and I’m not gonna let ZAP close because all of you are butt-hurt over losing parts of your legions!”

Katharine lifted her head up and tightly wriggled out of the grasp of the Baccanoids, hitting both of them square in the jaw with the strongest part of her palm. This didn’t stop them as they brandished their swords, ready to stab Katharine bloodless. Thinking fast, she sharply turned around and started to run back from where Julian had led her.

“Come and get me, motherfuckers!” Katharine shouted. As she noticed Chase and Lacey, she made a gesture for them to get up and follow her.

“Don’t just stand there, you fools!” Lord Adaru roared to his Baccanoid warrior guards. “Go after her! She must be stopped!”

Chase and Lacey caught up with Katharine in her tracks, as the Baccanoid warriors were slowly but surely catching up behind them. They stomped through puddle after puddle, occasionally ducking to not get stabbed by the stalagmites. A few moments later, the iron black gate that separated the Portmanteau with the Universal Palace Theater came into view.

“There’s the gate!” Chase exclaimed. “Hurry!”

Lacey ran up to the gate and started to jerk it open. The warriors were just feet away now, getting closer and closer to Katharine, the now mortal fugitive. Just as time was about to run out, Lacey swung open the gate, letting Katharine and Chase run back into the theater lobby before running back in herself.

“Hey, you might want this,” a young man’s voice told Lacey as she held the gate shut with her hand, the Baccanoids banging their fists.

Lacey glanced up to see an African-American young man dressed in a black suit and tie holding a silver, arched key. “Hey, thanks!” she said as she turned in the key in its lock, now permanently locking the gate. “I was worried that those Baccanoid warriors could’ve gotten in.”

“No problem,” the young man replied. “But how is my boss going to get in later?”

“Who, the usher?” Chase asked.

“Yeah, that’s Julian Browning for you. He’s very strict with following rules and stuff, and he’s completely serious about respecting this place… I mean, _his lady_.”

“He thinks this movie theater is a living, breathing woman?” Katharine laughed.

“Shhh, don’t even make the slightest insult! Julian can sense it from miles away, even when he’s in that cavern with the demon. By the way, my name’s Jason Brockington the third, but you can call me Jay. I’m a concessions worker here.”

“We’re—“ 

“Oh, don’t worry, I know who you guys are. You’re from ZAP! I see you guys fighting it out every once in a while."

Katharine grinned. “And I’m the infamous Katharine Romero!”

Jay looked out into the opening that separated the lobby from the Portmanteau to see Julian slowly returning, the beam of his flashlight guiding his way. “Look, you guys need to leave right now! This is what I meant about Julian’s senses. He looks extremely pissed”

“Kind of figured,” Chase retorted as Lacey handed back the key to Jay. “You stay safe, man. Maybe you can come on over to ZAP sometime. I give crossbow lessons every Wednesday at five-thirty.”

“Sounds cool, bro. You stay safe too. I’m one of the only mortals left here in Carey, like you guys. If Julian sees that I gave your friend the key, I am surely dead.”

As the trio made their way out of the movie theater, Katharine glanced back at Jay to double check his status. He still seemed to be perfectly healthy, breathing and free of scars or bites. As she observed closely, she noticed Julian unlocking the opening and charging towards Jay, who still was clutching the key. After a brief quarrel, Julian brought his gloved hands to Jay’s neck and snapped it to the right, breaking it and killing him. Katharine cringed at the sound of snapping bone, biting down on her lip as she watched Jay go limp.

Suddenly, as if Jay’s suffering couldn’t get any worse, Julian bent down to the barely alive Jay, took him in his hands, and sunk his teeth into his neck, just like the Strengoits did with their unwilling donors. The wound on Jay’s neck festered and bubbled when Julian let go; as the infection took over him, his dark skin was lightening up with disgusting shades of yellow and green.

“Kat, come on!” Katharine heard Chase loudly whisper from the exit doors of the theater. “We need to go see if Tom recovered!”

But Katharine stayed frozen in her tracks, disbelieving that the young man she just met was killed and turned in a blink of an eye. The heralds of Fear truly did have the power now, slowly becoming the oligarchy that would soon take over Carey. Katharine’s heart pounded when she saw Julian turn his head, noticing that she still stood in his lobby. His mismatched eyes of green and white lingered on her, glaring with anger, knowing that she disobeyed his lord and master even more.

As he licked the blood off his pale lips , Julian stared at the mortal girl in a mix of anger and curiosity. Although he despised her for killing off more of his kind and threatening the lives of the other legions, something about Katharine’s determination and cunning stuck out in his mind. The girl had a wild, carefree spirit, and would possibly vow to die for her passion of eradicating the undead. His growing hatred and disgust of Lord Adaru reminded him of her, but for obvious reasons, he could not display any emotion. She was still a barrier, however, remaining alive among her mortal friends.

He still would have his vengeance in one way or another.


	4. At Sixes and Sevens, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where I think the plot really sets off. You'll see a familiar face from Horror Nights past, the icons themselves, and a little bit of tragedy...
> 
> Trigger warnings for blood, gore, and a character death [you'll see who].

**3\. At Sixes and Sevens**

When the comrades returned back to base, they saw that all of the trainees returned home, with only George, Hayley, and Tom in the area of the warehouse that served as the main office. Tom lay on a makeshift cot, with Hayley occasionally checking his blood pressure. George watched on, wrapping a bandage around what appeared to be a dark bruise.

A familiar man also sat nearby on a metal stool, muttering something about the Kerezan outbreak, his voice muffled by the biter mask he wore. This was Eddie, an ally of ZAP’s. Even though his brother was the herald of chaos, Eddie didn’t take his side, remaining neutral. And despite Chase spreading rumors that Eddie may have acted like his brother the past, he had always seemed to be a nice, down to earth guy to ZAP’s staff, even though he hid third degree burns and mummified lips underneath his mask.

“Oh, hey Eddie,” Chase said as he entered the office, noticing him right away.

“What the hell happened to you three?” Eddie asked the trio, noticing how wet and dirty they were from being in Lord Adaru’s cavern.

“Well,” Katharine began, taking a seat next to Eddie, “let’s just say that I’m a wanted fugitive now in the eyes of Lord Adaru and his heralds.”

“What did you just say?!” Eddie asked in shock.

“I was placed under trial for killing too many Kerezans by Lord Adaru because that usher guy was getting sick and tired of seeing us kill all the time,” Katharine continued. “He snapped my hunting license and rifle in half, and then told me that I’d be turned into the Order’s undead prisoner.” She tried to hold back tears. “That was my favorite rifle, the one that Wes gave me when he visited us a few years back. That damn demon broke it right in front of me to show that he has all the power now, that prick.”

“You’re fortunate that you managed to escape,” Eddie said sympathetically. “They could’ve had you all dead the moment they saw you, especially since you guys work for ZAP. The heralds are always talking about how much ZAP is ruining Lord Adaru’s goal. They always mention how they’ll eventually have you all dead, and placed in the legions so Adaru gets complete control of the world’s fear.”

“Wait, it gets better!” Lacey added. “Katharine was being restrained by the Baccanoid warriors, and then she got all tough and stuff and told Lord Adaru, ‘I’m not gonna be your prisoner!’ Then, she kicked the shit out of the warriors and fled like Sonic the Hedgehog out of the cavern!”

“The two Baccanoids regained their strength and ran after us,” Chase continued. “We kept on running until we found the gate that separated the cavern from the Universal Palace, so we shut out the two of them just in time.”

“So, you guys are basically telling me that you just escaped Lord Adaru’s law and are now on the run from him and his heralds?” Eddie tried to soak it all in. “I… I can’t even believe this. I’m not sure how to tell you all this, but your freedom ain’t gonna last too long. Lord Adaru’s heralds travel around Carey all the time, trying to find stranded mortals so they can collect their souls and get them put into a legion. ZAP’s the number one place that they’re gonna check.”

“Well, Julian’s been here already,” Chase remembered. “Who’s next?”

“My brother really doesn’t roam around this part of Carey . Elsa’s a bit too slow, and Paolo’s too busy with his ‘location scouting’. Julian never really leaves his theater, so what happened yesterday was a rare exception. So, it’s probably gonna be Albert. To you guys, he’ll be the worst of all the heralds. He’s Adaru’s most trusted, actually, his eyes and ears. He resembles death, and he’s pretty damn good with it.”

“Where’s Katharine?” Tom groggily asked, slowly waking up from his unconsciousness.

“No, Dad!” Hayley said happily. “She’s right here! She managed to escape the usher that was here earlier.”

“Kathy!” Katharine approached the cot and knelt down to her father’s level. “Kathy, I can’t believe you came out alive! What exactly happened?”

Katharine repeated the exact same story as she – with assistance from Chase and Lacey – told Eddie. “Just because I left them doesn’t mean that all of this is over,” she added when she finished her tale. “We’ve got to stop them somehow. It’s going to take a lot of work, I know, but what I also know is that it can be done.”

“Even if it does mean banishing my brother from immortality ,” Eddie added, “which, to be honest, I don’t give a flying fuck about.”

As Chase laughed at Eddie’s retort, Lacey asked, “But how can we stop Lord Adaru and that red-head lady?”

“Oh, that’s Fortuna, or Lady Luck in the gambling circles. Both of them are really hard to defeat, since Fear and Fate are the most ultimate elements of horror. The heralds resemble branches of fear. When Fortuna recruited them, she paired them up with the branch that resembled them the most. Remember the usher, Julian Browning? He had a rather troubled past with moviegoers breaking the rules, so that’s why he’s Vengeance.

"The other four of Adaru’s heralds got their titles based on what they did in their past lives. Elsa was a writer, so she resembles Legend. My brother Jack… well, you should pretty much know why he’s Chaos. Paolo kills for the art of film, so he became Sacrifice. And lastly, Albert was fascinated with what killed a person, so he was titled as Death.

“All of the heralds were mortal once, but turned to the afterlife once Luck gave them a choice: to either die being unknown, or to live for a purpose. They were chosen to be Adaru’s heralds for the next twenty years, and they’re expected to be his most loyal heralds yet. They damn well know what they’re doing, making sure the legions thrive.”

“So this is all some type of set up plan,” Chase wondered. “Lord Adaru wants to use horror to conquer the whole world? The heralds choose who gets to go on to the afterlife, so that Adaru gets more power?”

“Sounds about right, even if a little cheesy,” Eddie said. “I’m no textbook on his plans, though.”

“But you know everything!” Hayley exclaimed. She had intently been paying attention to Eddie’s explanation.

“Since I’m sometimes around Jack, that’s how I get all of my information. But I know nothing about Lord Adaru’s side of the plan. He works in the shadows, only letting the heralds see him every once in a while. He trusts them.”

There was then a loud knock coming from the warehouse's door. George answered it, and upon seeing who was visiting this late at night, he looked back at everybody in disgust. "We've got another undead freak visiting us. Dressed like a fine damn gentleman, if you ask me."

"Yeah, that's Albert," Eddie confirmed as he rose from his seat. "I'll try talking to him. Like I just told the kids, he's the worse out of all of 'em. He never shuts up about the goal at hand."

“We’ll stand guard for you, kids,” George said, returning to the office as Eddie began to speak with Albert. “You’ve really got yourselves into enough trouble for one night. Go relax and watch one of those funny movies to laugh away all of this.”

"Yeah, we'll go," Katharine decided, gesturing toward her friends. "The next time I want to see any of the heralds is when they catch my ass to kill me. Come on, guys, you too Hayley. Stay safe, and make sure my Dad's getting better. I can't have him die from something as stupid as a flashlight wound."

Katharine emerged from her seat and ushered Chase, Lacey, and Hayley out of the office and to their hidden home, which was located right behind the warehouse. Their home was once the old Good Harvest Orphanage, which stood abandoned for many years. Despite its interior being homely and plentiful of supplies, the bricked exterior still looked decrepit, still bearing two old chimney stacks. At first glance, people would assume that no one lived in there, which tricked the undead so easily.

As Katharine groggily walked into her home, she found the nearest couch in the living room and collapsed onto it, burying her head into one of the pillows. She was exhausted from all the fighting and protesting she had done, and the only thing on her mind at the moment was to sleep.

“You tired, Kat?” Chase asked, sitting down next to Katharine. He put a protective hand on her back as she muttered a reply.

“Just let her sleep, Chase,” Lacey told him. “She’s fought a whole group of zombies and escaped the Lord of Fear himself, all in one night.”

Hayley joined Lacey on an adjacent couch. “My sister’s really brave,” Hayley thought to herself, out loud. “I wish I could be just as brave as her once I’m sixteen.”

“You will be!” Lacey told Hayley encouragingly, hearing her perfectly clear. “Once you fight your first few zombies, you’ll get the rush just as Katharine did. Now enough of this shit about everything that’s happened today. Let’s watch a movie. I think Chase said a while back that he wanted to watch Shaun again.”

Hayley went to the DVD cabinet below the television and pulled out the DVD of _Shaun of the Dead_ , carefully inserting the disc into the player. As the opening previews began, Hayley referred back to her survival guide, panning her eyes over the heavily highlighted passages she took note of.

* * *

**Sunday, October 24th, 2010. Zombie Awareness Program Base. 10:05 am.**

It was the bright hours of the morning when Chase, Lacey, and Hayley entered base to help Tom and George set up for the new day. Hayley assisted Chase with polishing the crossbows, and Lacey was finally practicing her shooting with the Remington shotgun with help from George, despite the infamous aim test that awaited her for when Tom was fully recovered.

“No, hon,” George spoke, observing Lacey and her missed shot. “You need to do it like Katharine does it; square in the middle, with nothing to lose.”

“Speaking of Kathy, where is she?” Tom asked as he unlocked the armory case. He was recovering quickly, yet occasionally he would put a hand to his head where Julian hit him, the spot now bandaged.

“Sleeping,” Chase replied. “She was dead tired when we came back from Adaru’s cavern. No pun intended, of course.”

Tom turned on the room’s speakers, which now played the music of The Misfits. From then on, ZAP’s staff continued preparing Training Room #1, hanging new test dummies in their stations and rolling out the weapon racks. Hayley assisted her father with loading up the test rifles, while Chase practiced throwing a bludgeon which weighed almost a hundred pounds.

“So, how did everything with the one guy turn out last night?” Lacey asked as she placed a new target sheet in front of her.

“Not too good,” George answered, sitting down on a stool, “unless attempting to fight him counts. He gave us a grace period, though, but he didn’t say how long. You can thank Eddie for that. It’s nice that we’ve got someone sort of affiliated with the heralds on our side.”

“Yes, for someone who cannot have much a say in our matters,” came a deep, distinguished voice from the back of the room.

Everyone turned to see that Dr. Albert Caine, the herald of death had entered the training room, completely unharmed. The remaining four of his fellow heralds had accompanied him as well, visiting ZAP to clarify that their master’s purpose was to be fulfilled.

“Shit, not you guys again!” Lacey yelled, setting down her practice rifle. “If this rifle had real ammo, I’d be shooting you guys right now!”

“Katharine isn’t here, if that’s who you’re looking for,” Hayley said politely.

“Oh, we’re not just here for Katharine,” Albert told Hayley. “We are also here to shut down this business. Do you remember when Julian intruded last night?”

“Intruded isn’t the right word, Albert,” Julian told his fellow herald. “It’s more of... inspecting than anything else.”

Albert gave a curt nod to Julian, and then focused his attention back to the ZAP team members. “We want the girl. We gave you one night to think things over. She is Lord Adaru’s prisoner now, and his words cannot be broken.”

Tom grabbed a dented crowbar that was propped up against the wall and aimed it toward Albert. “Look, you’re breaking and entering private property,” Tom declared bravely. “I suggest you all leave or I’ll have you arrested.”

The heralds chuckled in unison. “Haven’t you been outside lately, Mr. Romero?” Paolo asked Tom. “Most of the mortals are too afraid to step out into the light because of us. Even the law forces have lost all hope! Everyone turns to ZAP now.”

“You provide the weapons of rebellion,” Elsa added, “which is strictly against Lord Adaru’s orders. I bear a vital sense of discipline, and I believe the owners of this business shall need it.”

“Well, we ain’t shutting down,” George retaliated. “We strive for this business!”

“Then show it to us now!” Jack yelled as his fellow heralds drew out their weapons; Albert, a scissor-like scalpel, Elsa, a bladed tongue depressor, and Julian, the same flashlight that caused Tom’s head injury. Jack had his Cane of Souls, while Paolo proceeded to start up his beloved camera.

“Chase, get your crossbow,” Tom ordered. “Lacey, it’s time for some real shooting practice. Go get one of the spare Remingtons from out of the cabinet. If Katharine isn’t gonna come down, you’re gonna have to practice on the heralds right—“

Elsa approached Tom and stabbed him in the stomach with her bladed tongue depressor. Tom’s mouth began to leak out blood as he struggled to take out the depressor himself, adding more bloodshed. Crumbling to the floor, Tom threw the tongue depressor back at the heralds, which only made them laugh.

“Dad!” Hayley cried, burying her head into Chase’s shoulder. “Get away from him, you creepy old lady!”

“He needs some more work done if my film’s going to be successful,” Paolo complained, watching Tom writhe and squirm. “Jack, go hit his head or something.”

“I’ve got a better plan!” Jack exclaimed, prancing over to the fallen leader. Without hesitation, he stabbed his Cane of Souls deep into Tom’s throat, almost in a rhythmic fashion in time with the Misfits music that still played. Dark blood stained the tile floor, seeping through almost every direction of Tom's throat, until it remained nothing more than a bloody stump. Hayley shrieked and sobbed, begging for the Clown Prince to stop, but he wouldn't listen to a measly little girl.

“Jack, I believe you stole that technique from me,” Julian said in dissatisfaction. “I did that a while ago on a misbehaving patron after he stuck gum below one of my lady’s seats.”

“Stop referring to that dirt bag theater of yours as a woman,” Jack scoffed. He watched as his cane started to glow, detecting Tom’s soul. “You aren’t gonna score a woman anytime soon!”

Meanwhile, George rounded up the comrades and Hayley in a corner to give them a serious pep talk. “Look, this isn’t a practice round anymore,” he told them. “This is the real deal now. This is what you guys have been preparing for since June. Hayley, I know you haven’t started to deal with the weapons yet, but you’ve studied the survival guide so many times that I know you have it down verbatim.”

“I… I can’t go out there!” Hayley quivered, choking on her sobs. “The heralds scare me! I want Katharine!”

“What are they discussing back there?” Elsa asked Albert, keenly watching George and his students gathered around in a huddle.

“I’m allowing them to have a simple grace period,” Albert replied, inspecting the group closely. “After that, the second man shall be down. Paolo and Julian can aim for the boy if they wish to.”

“Here’s what I want you guys to do,” George continued. “When I say ‘go’, I want you to run as fast you can past those heralds. You’re gonna run outside and keep on running until you can’t even breathe. Find the nearest abandoned building, or if you can approach it, Eddie’s warehouse. Do you understand?”

“What about Katharine?” Chase asked while trying to soothe Hayley.

“I hate saying this, but Katharine’s gonna have to fight for herself this time. She ain’t gonna make it in time by the time you guys are gone.” George was trying to hold back tears, knowing both he and Katharine’s ends were near. At this point, there was literally nothing they could do to save their loved ones from the heralds. They were trapped. “I know she’s gonna find you guys. I know who Katharine really is.”

“Are you going to be okay, Uncle George?” Lacey asked tearfully.

“I’m going to be okay, sweetheart. Just remember your good old uncle for attempting to kick the asses of as many undead as possible. I may die right at this moment, but rest assured I tried to protect my niece and her friends.”

After Lacey gave George a tight, tearful hug, the group disbanded as Albert started to approach them. “Are you going to attempt to fight us, or will you accept your deaths?” he asked, his scalpel scissors ready to clench onto someone's throat at any second.

Swallowing his tears, George yelled, “GO!”

 

 


	5. At Sixes and Sevens, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this second part of "At Sixes and Sevens", you'll see Katharine's reaction to everything she's feared now coming to life. Trust me when I say it's not pretty, since, you know... the undead's taking over Carey.
> 
> Trigger warnings for blood, gore, language, and character death [again, you'll see who].

**At Sixes and Sevens, Part 2**

**Romero household, 12:33 pm.  
**

Katharine awakened and stretched out her aching muscles, slowly remembering that she was sleeping on the couch in her living room. Last night’s battle was intense, especially since it was topped off with a trial from the bad demon himself, Lord Adaru. She was a fugitive of his law now, her life at stake. 

“Chase?” Katharine called out loud. “Lacey? Hayley? Where are you guys?” Chase, Lacey, and Hayley were nowhere in sight, and the menu of the _Shaun of the Dead_ DVD was left frozen on the screen. “Oh, Chase, don’t tell me we’re playing your stupid version of Hide and Seek again! I guess I’m it.”

Katharine rushed upstairs and first entered her room to change out of her damp clothes, putting on a sleeveless _Night of the Living Dead_ tee shirt and black leggings. She walked over to her wide window as she tied her hair back, startled by the five Baccanoid warriors guarding the entrance of ZAP base.

“Oh shit!” Katharine muttered angrily to herself, slipping on her boots quickly. Running out of the room, her pulse started racing. Lord Adaru had indeed kept his word - his purpose was to unfurl _now_. She swung open the doors of the rooms where her sister, boyfriend, and best friend resided, finding them empty. Panicking, she ran downstairs, out of the house, and back into base, finding Training Room #2's door opened ajar.

"Guys, I'm here! There's a bunch of Baccanoids outside-" Before she could finish her sentence, Katharine lost her footing and tripped onto the floor, falling to her knees. When she looked down, her knee was soaked with a substance that never, ever met the room's floors, not even when the dummy zombies decided to leak.

Blood. Cold, fresh blood.

Whoever had infiltrated base wrote protesting messages on the steel walls, all in dripping, dark blood. _DOWN WITH ZAP_ , read one. _ZAP IS DESTROYING OUR UNDEAD_ , read another. And if it couldn’t get any worse, all the training equipment was destroyed and the glass gun cases were broken into, the guns now stolen; the racks that once hosted crossbows and rifles were also empty. Even the training zombies were completely gone.

As Katharine looked around the room, her eyes also met the bodies of George and the very person that Katharine couldn’t bear to see dead – her father, who now had an open, round wound in his throat.

“NO!” Katharine screamed, crawling over to the corpses of her family. She scooped up Tom and cradled him in her arms, her tears pouring down on his face. “Dad, please come back to me… please…” She then looked over to George, whom she noticed was now breathing his last breaths. “George… George… can you hear me?”

“Katharine…” George sighed hoarsely. “Fear’s heralds broke in…the comrades and your sister… they escaped…the Morphans stole… everything …”

“What did they do to you? How have they…” Katharine helped George flip over on his side. The back of his gray shirt had turned red from all the blood seeping into it. When she pulled up his shirt, she discovered that one of the heralds attempted to take his spine out, a huge gaping wound carved deep into his back.

“They used their own weapons… especially the usher’s flashlight and the old man’s scalpel. The director… he filmed it all…”

The metal door swung open as the heralds all filed into the building, led by Albert. Katharine sharply turned her head to look upon the heralds with burning rage in her eyes. “I want you to get the fuck out of here, you bastards!” Katharine yelled angrily. “Where the fuck are my friends and my sister? WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?”

“I can assure you that your comrades and your sister are in fine health,” Albert answered, smoothly approaching Katharine and the corpses. “However, in your means, you are surely not. Remember how Julian told you that your operations would be shut down? Well, your time has come.”

Katharine quickly turned her attention back to George, whose breathing decreased slowly. “I’m not gonna give up, George,” Katharine tearfully told him. “You’ve made such a huge impact on my life. I’m gonna find Chase and Lacey and Hayley, and we’re gonna keep the business open. I’ll—“

Jack grabbed Katharine from behind, carrying her in front of him from her waist. She tried to struggle out of his grasp, but it was no use. Her legs shook wildly as she slammed her fists onto Jack’s velvet-covered arms, screaming wildly as base became more and more out of view.

“Shut your mouth, kid!” he reprimanded, forcing a dirty hand over Katharine’s mouth.

Paolo then swung the metal door of ZAP shut, sealing George and Tom inside their tomb, the very business they created together. It reminded Katharine of something they used to frequently say – “We’d die for this business, knowing that we’ve helped out those who want to fight!”

But they died in vain, dying because their power had been usurped by Fear’s urchins.

“Turn her around, Jack,” Albert ordered as the heralds walked out into the streets of Carey. The Baccanoid warriors lowered their heads towards them in respect as they passed. “I want her to see what she has caused.”

“Are you ready for this?” Jack asked Katharine menacingly in her ear. “We’ve got a real special treat for you!”

He swung Katharine around so she could see the members of the legions now freely roaming the streets, some even making their way into buildings and houses to find new forced recruits. A group of animal masked Morphans munching on Wonka Nerds noticed Katharine in Jack’s grasp, and started to screech in laughter, pointing at the fallen hero.

“Look what ‘ya did, Romero!” Jack continued. “If you hadn’t pissed off Lord Adaru so much, everyone would still be hidin’! But now, they’re free to walk around because ZAP is dead! They’re safe now!” The heralds chuckled at Jack’s clever realization. "Welcome to Adaru's Awakening, bitch!"

“ZAP is dead,” Paolo repeated.

“ZAP is dead!” Elsa giggled.

“ZAP is dead!” all of the heralds chorused. The members of the legions noticed this, and started to chorus the three dreaded words over and over, as Katharine screamed and cried through Jack’s hand.

Julian approached Katharine, who was now getting limp from Jack’s tight grasp. “Now we will win, Ms. Romero, and it’s all thanks to you.”

The pure humiliation and rage a strong hold on Katharine, causing her to black out and faint in the clown ringmaster’s arms, all while the truth she didn’t want to believe echoed in her numbing mind.

* * *

**3:45 pm.**

In a darkened alleyway tucked in the outskirts of Carey’s western outskirts, now truly known as Deadtropolis, a loud wail that passed for a cry echoed in the darkness. “We should’ve wakened her up, Chase!” Lacey cried in vain. “You’re such a dumbass for leaving Katharine behind!”

“I didn’t even know that they were coming back!” Chase shouted, referring to the heralds. “I would’ve went back to the house and gotten Katharine myself, if it wasn’t for those damn heralds seizing the place! They wanted her, and I couldn’t just lead her out in plain sight of the legions!”

“So you left her to fend for herself? She needed us!”

“Guys, stop fighting!” Hayley exclaimed, fighting back her tears. “We should all be fortunate that we managed to escape from the heralds! And for you guys, it’s a second time, the second time in the past day!”

“She’s right,” Chase said sarcastically. “We should focus on the good luck rather than the bad. That’s all we need right now, some nice, good luck. Luck that doesn’t even exist in this damn world anymore!” Chase’s sudden outburst made Hayley sob even more.

“But there’s more bad than good,” Lacey sniffled, sinking her head into her knees. “That’s what this entire town is like now. You can’t even find a diamond in the rough.”

The trio huddled together and watched the pouring rain fall, but the rhythmic clicking of heels walking toward them broke up their position. Their heads shot up as a woman emerged from the shadows, her dark auburn hair tied up in a ponytail. "What are you children doing here?" the woman asked, entering the sparse amount of light. "You know Carey isn't safe anymore, right?"

“We’re just… uh… relaxing,” Chase answered. “We’re waiting for our ride to get here.” It was of course a lie, but the best he could come up with.

“Well, a darkened alleyway isn’t the right place for relaxing. I’ve got a shelter for those who need to hide from the undead a few blocks near here.” The woman’s sharp blue eyes seemed to intense in brightness.

“Thanks, but no thanks. Seriously, we have someone who’s picking us up in a few minutes.”

“Who?” The woman’s voice grew tense. “Is it your little friend, Katharine?”

“She’s gone,” Hayley said sadly. “We had to leave without her. She’s probably looking for us now.”

The woman smirked. “She is gone, but she isn’t looking for you.” She untied her hair and let it flow down, and her blue eyes changed to a bright green.

“Lady Luck!” Lacey said angrily. “I knew you’d find us here! Tell us where Katharine is. We know you know!”

“I’m not telling you where Katharine is,” Luck replied coyly, “but I can tell you that she’s in safe hands.”

“You mean safe hands as in those of the heralds!” Chase realized. “The heralds have her!”

Luck let out her usual sultry laugh. “If you want to find Katharine, then I suggest coming with me. Or, you could stay here and find her yourselves, if you prefer. But I will warn you, your fates will only get worse and worse if you decide to go any further.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Lacey told Chase and Hayley. “She’s Lady Luck, the goddess of fate. She’s just saying all of this to get us distracted from finding Katharine.”

“But she has connections with Adaru and the heralds!” Hayley added. “She’s the second most powerful behind him, so she knows everything! We should listen to her!”

“I know, Hayley, but it’s not the safest situation.” Lacey turned back to Luck. “We can find Katharine ourselves, thank you very much.”

Luck's eyes widened in dissatisfaction. "Suit yourselves," she said, shrugging, "but if you ever need me, you know where to find me."

She released a queen of hearts playing card from out of thin air and let it fly in the night breeze, sauntering away as Chase caught it in his hand. Eyeing it without concern, he ripped it up, sending the pieces into a puddle.

"We don't need her," Chase told Lacey and Hayley, "and we don't need the reminder that luck's not in our favor. If anything, she's the reason why we're stuck here now."

"I just wonder what they did to Katharine," Hayley said, staring up at the dark, rainy sky. Her eyes met the thickened woods behind all the abandoned buildings and houses, where far in the distance was a Victorian manor that bore a similarity to The Haunted Mansion. "I don't want them to hurt my sister. She's fought so hard."

 


	6. No Man's Land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie starts to question his thoughts about the Order of Fear; the Trio continue their trek to find help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for blood, gore, and a character death. Also, I write Eddie a little differently than how he's depicted in HHN canon, so hopefully that's okay!

**4\. No Man's Land**

_October 24th, 2010. The abandoned warehouse of RUN, 6:43 pm._

When Eddie relocated to Carey a few years ago, his business known only as RUN never received any customers. Back when RUN thrived in San Fran and Orlando, he'd always be getting victims, or people insane and sadistic enough to do the classic murder-for-hire. But now, in this ghost town, the maze and torture devices stood unused. Jack told him he'd be getting business like crazy here, so where were the sickos and lunatics?

Eddie couldn't help but feel a little bitter toward the Order. He always had a grudge against Jack, who only looked out for himself and his own purposes. He initially gave funding to RUN, and even participated in a few of the murders, but after he realized his dreams of a Carnival of Carnage came to fruition, he abandoned the business, leaving Eddie to pay whatever he could. That's when RUN's attendance quickly declined, and Eddie started not to care about murdering people anymore.

One day, he watched the comrades, called 'the rebels' by the Order as they fought a pack of Cerebin creatures near the firehouse. He focused on a young woman with a rifle, who shot right through the chest of a little green creature with wings . When its fresh corpse fell to the ground, she decided to have a little more fun with it by stomping on its head, its brains oozing out.

"Damn," Eddie retorted as the woman called upon her other two companions. "She's good."

Eddie later found out that the woman was Katharine Romero. She wasn't killing the Cerebin just because she was a sadistic individual along with her friends; she was actually against the Order herself, and was slowly killing off the members of the legions so the mortals could live in peace. Eddie realized that ZAP may have been the answer to his problems; it might even help him redeem himself. He knew that somehow, he had to help ZAP in their goal to get the heralds to stop killing people just for a demon and his unrealistic vision.

Since no one showed up to kill or be a victim, Eddie had more time to think things through and decided to help the Romeros protect themselves and their business. He acted as a messenger of sorts, occasionally hanging out with Jack to eavesdrop on conversations he had with the others. But now, time had run out for that, too, as the heralds’ search became the only thing that thrived in Carey.

Eddie knew that by now, Tom and George were good as dead, and Katharine was gone, being held hostage by the heralds to serve her trial. There was no way at all that the ZAP founders could've defended themselves against the heralds without dying first; the heralds always had the first act, before the mortals could even make the slightest move. Eddie tried convincing the heralds that trying to stop ZAP wasn't worth it and they could be focusing more on finding more souls, but it was too late. The citizens of Carey no longer had any help or protection to turn to, as the paranormal activities broke into something even worse than ever before.

 _Ding._ The bell that normally warned Eddie of new victims made a soft sound as someone walked inside the abandoned warehouse.

 _That’s strange,_ Eddie thought. _I thought the business was done for._

“Edgar,” a sophisticated voice spoke. “It’s so strange to see your business still open, after all these years of declining attendance.”

“I haven’t been considering myself open,” Eddie answered. “I’ve still got the stuff here in case anyone still wants to play. You never know, there could still be some sick mortals out there.”

The owner of the voice moved out of the shadows, revealing to be Dr. Albert Caine, whom Eddie told the comrades was Lord Adaru’s most trusted herald. In the presence of any mortal, Albert was a harbinger, serving as a last warning before applying the death that he provided. “By mortals, you probably mean the ones that are not accounted for,” Albert replied with slight annoyance in his voice. The task of killing mortals for the legions never left his mind. “Last time I spoke to you, you told me you were still mortal, which is quite strange for the brother of the herald of chaos.”

“No,” Eddie spoke firmly. He knew what Albert was here for. “I’m not trying to go my brother’s route of business. I don’t need fame and immortality just because I’m in relations with some of the world’s most well-known killers and like to spread chaos wherever I go. I’m an underground killer, and I prefer to stay that way.”

“Edgar, you don’t understand. Because of the destruction that the rebels provided, our legions are starting to die out. Cerebin is close to becoming extinct, and the Strengoits are becoming bloodless. The Morphans’ tricks are becoming stale and the Maschorians are becoming weaker. If you do not help us now, then our master shall be furious.”

“I don’t support Lord Adaru or his legions, and I definitely don’t support my brother after what he’s done to my business. If you want me to join the legions just so some demon gets power, you’re gonna have to give me a good, damn reason other than that they’re dying.”

“You are starting to waste my time, boy.” Albert was starting to get furious. “I have come here to personally invite you to join the Maschorian legion so you may help your brother and your other acquaintances.”

“I don’t call any of the heralds my ‘acquaintances’. If anyone, I’d consider ZAP my acquaintances, especially those rebel kids.”

“So you support the rebels? You could be so much more powerful than the rebels, Edgar. The Maschorians are known for handling chainsaws quite well, and you’re skilled at using a chainsaw to murder your victims. If you join the ranks of the Maschorians, then they can easily rise back to power. Think about it.”

Eddie turned his back to Albert, lost in his thoughts. He knew that Albert was trying to play mind games with him; Baccanoids were skilled with those. Eddie knew deep down that he didn’t want to join the Maschorians, for several reasons. Lord Adaru would receive his soul if he died, giving the demon more power. He’d be going against the very thing that Katharine and her friends were fighting for, freedom for mortals and banishment of the paranormal. He didn’t want to let them down. He had helped them, giving them all the information he could forge. In his mind, he considered himself a rebel, just like them.

“Edgar,” Albert spoke. “I suppose you are right about the rebels needing more support. You’ve helped them so much through these… dark times. Maybe we’ve underestimated them. All they need is… a little guidance. Perhaps Fortuna could reach out to them somehow. You could reveal yourself, too. Are you not for the rebels’ side? Why are you not with them?”

This irked Eddie, as he turned around to face Albert again. “That’s something I’d never hear you say. I’m surprised you actually care about them.”

“Fool! I would never say such a thing. I needed your attention, as you have kept me waiting for so long. Now, if you excuse me, it is time for me to fulfill my purpose as the herald of death. We have waited far too long for your soul, Edgar, and now it is time that Lord Adaru shall have it!”

* * *

 

After several hours of sleep in their alleyway, Chase, Lacey, and Hayley were back on their feet, searching for shelter or one of their allies. They traveled into the eastern parts of Carey, where Eddie’s warehouse was located. That was their goal destination; Eddie could easily help them and give them shelter.

“Damn, I’m starving,” Lacey retorted after passing a closed down diner, named Milly’s. It was where she, Chase, and Katharine would occasionally hang out after missions, before the owners got turned into Kerezans.

“If there was any place open, I’d treat,” Chase replied, sadly glancing over at the diner. “But since half of Carey’s population’s shut in or dead, there’s no food out there. I’d say the Universal Palace Theater’s the only place with decent food right now, but that’s way back. And plus, that usher is there. He’d make us pay admission, but then he’d ban us since we’re the rebels.”

A young boy wearing a faded rabbit mask then skipped toward the trio, holding a Halloween bucket in shape of a pumpkin. “Hiya!” he said, greeting them. “Do you guys want some candy?”

“Oh, do we,” Hayley replied, reaching her hand for a lollipop she saw in the bucket.

“Hayley!” Lacey hissed, pushing Hayley’s hand away. “You know better. This is a Morphan! He’s trying to offer you poisoned candy.”

“But it’s so tempting,” Hayley moaned in hunger.

Lacey looked up at the Morphan boy in disgust. “No thanks. We don’t want any of your candy. Now kindly fuck off.”

The boy sniffled from behind his mask. “I’m telling Jack!” he wailed, running away from the trio.

"Nice job with scaring that Morphan kid away, Lacey," Chase said, chuckling.

"That's my skill," Lacey replied. "Always worked in handy for the creepy kids back in high school."

As the trio continued their travels, all of them couldn’t stop thinking about Katharine. Did she manage to get out of ZAP alive? Did she fend for herself like she did in the cavern? Or did the heralds kill her and turn her undead, just as they said they would? However Katharine’s dilemma furthered on, they knew for sure that she fought her way through somehow.

“I think I see it,” Chase said as a circular, yellow sign came into the trio’s vision. The sign wasn’t hard to miss, the frame hosting several blinking, colorful lights. One word rested on the sign: “RUN”. There was no mention of what lay in store in the warehouse, not even an address. To everyone still lurking around in Carey, this was no man’s land.

“Chase, are you sure about this place?” Lacey asked as they walked toward the entrance framed with barbed wire. “It looks kind of like Jigsaw’s lair.”

“Lacey, do you really think Eddie’s like Jigsaw?” Chase replied. “Sure, he’s supposedly been demented in the past, but remember, he’s our—“ As Chase opened the door, he gasped, disbelieving what he saw. Ironically, the warehouse seemed to be decked out in things that Jigsaw would use in his elaborate traps. A huge labyrinth of barbed wire lay in the center of the warehouse, and decapitated mannequins hung on chains attached to the ceiling. Power tools and chains were scattered on tables, rusty and blood-stained.

And most importantly, the near corpse of Eddie Schmidt lay on the floor, his chest and throat slashed open.

“Holy shit, Eddie!” Lacey said in shock, rushing to his side. “Who the fuck did this to you?”

“That… bastard, Dr. Caine,” Eddie managed to choke a reply. “He… wanted me to join… the Maschorians.”

“And you couldn’t stop him even though you’re the herald of chaos’ brother?” Hayley asked.

Eddie tried to nod, but his head crashed back onto the hard, concrete floor. “That damn fool,” Eddie choked out. “He was so… involved in his soul researching that he decided… to test it out on me.”

“So, what’s going to happen now?” Chase wondered aloud. “Your soul’s going to Adaru?”

But Eddie couldn’t answer, his life now out of grasp. “We can’t let his soul get to Lord Adaru!” Hayley declared as she stared at Eddie worriedly. “It’ll only give him more power!”

“You’re starting to understand,” Lacey noticed, “and you’re right. How can Eddie die in peace without his soul being damned?”

“We kill him,” Chase answered simply.

“But he’s already dead! Just look at him.”

Eddie was indeed dead, but there was some time left before his soul would be Lord Adaru’s. Once the human body began rigor mortis, that was then Adaru would claim the soul. The body was decomposing, and the decomposed was what made up the underground, Lord Adaru’s home.

“Wait, I remembered something,” Chase exclaimed. “I remember watching some version of Dracula with Kat once. There was this girl who got turned into a vampire. She was alive, but her soul was damned, so she didn’t rest in peace. But… once they cut her head off, she was a goner. She couldn’t be resurrected, or anything. She could be in peace, and it gave Dracula less power.”

“So, we’re going to cut Eddie’s head off?” Hayley asked in disbelief.

“It might do something,” Lacey replied. “Because I don’t think there would be any headless legion members. And besides, you need your head to think, see, and all that stuff.”

“Right,” Chase said. “I think that might be our answer. Lacey, hand me that chainsaw on the table over there.” Lacey headed toward the table of rusty weapons and lifted up the chainsaw. She then placed it in Chase’s arms, and as he positioned the weapon, he started to rev it up; the familiar buzzing of the chainsaw would be music to Eddie’s ears.

“Eddie, old friend,” Chase started, “if this is going to help you be free from the Order, then this is what I have to do. When I die, I think you’ll be thanking me and the girls. If it wasn’t for you, we would’ve never known about the heralds.”

And with that, Chase rotated the chainsaw’s blade horizontally, and started to slide it against Eddie’s neck. As the blood squirted all over Chase in copious amounts, everyone couldn’t help but tear up a little. Eddie had helped ZAP so much throughout the time he had been the messenger, and this would be his ultimate send-off. His soul would be free.

Chase was completed buzzing off Eddie’s head, raising it high to show the girls, his hands soaked with blood. A few meaty chunks hung from below, where Eddie’s head would’ve attached with the rest of his body.

“What are we going to do with his head?” Hayley asked. “We aren’t going to leave it here, are we?”

“Of course not,” Chase answered. “If we leave the head here, the heralds might find it and try to reattach it. That would destroy the purpose of why I even decapitated him. The head is ours now.” Chase went to the table to pick up some chain; with it, he would attach Eddie’s head to his belt.

As Lacey watched Chase wrap the chain around Eddie’s neck, she told him, “You know, Katharine would be proud of you right now. She’d probably even tell you that she’s never thought of the idea of freeing his soul by slicing his head off.”

“I know she would,” Chase replied as he opened a lock of chain to loop on his belt. “I know she would.”

 


	7. Lip Gloss and Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine makes some new friends in her new prison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No trigger warnings apply in this chapter, I'm glad to say! Although Paolo is a little bit of a creep in this chapter... but that's how I characterize him. Also, Williamette Valley in the story is sort of like this abandoned, woodsy area in the middle of Carey that no one really knows about other than rumors.

**5\. Lip Gloss and Black**

October 24th, 2010. Williamette Valley, Ohio. Caine manor. 8:24 pm.

“Katharine…” the voices of two young girls whispered in unison. “Katharine… wake up!”

Katharine opened her eyes to see that she wasn’t back at home in her bedroom, or waking up from unconsciousness on the floor of base. She noticed that she lay on a bed in a room that wasn’t even hers, noticing that she couldn’t even find any modern technologies in here. The room contained no windows, and most of the wooden furniture was colored in a rich, dark shade of red. When Katharine looked down at her bed, she realized that her blankets weren’t the faded, bright blue she was used to at home; they were now black.

 _Where have the undead brought me?_ Katharine thought to herself.

“Ooh, she’s so pretty!” the girls kept on whispering to themselves. “Look at her eyes and her hair!”

“Who… who are you people?” Katharine asked the two young girls, rubbing her eyes.

“We’re your servants!” they chorused. The two young girls were Anya and Alice Caladesi, a pair of working girls at the manor. They both died at fifteen years old after a fire perished their home, and were made Morphans by Lord Adaru himself. Their appearances distinguished who was who; Anya had blue eyes and long blonde hair, while Alice had yellow eyes and short, choppy brown hair.

“Holy shit, Morphans!” Katharine knew that one of the ways to really kill a Morphan was to feed them something healthy, as they thrived on candy and junk food. Of course, Katharine didn’t have anything with her, other than the outfit she threw on before being taken away by the heralds.

“What’s wrong with us, Katharine?” Alice asked. “Have you not seen a Morphan before?”

“Are we merely a legend to you?” Anya added.

“No,” Katharine replied. “I just wasn’t expecting that two Morphan kids to hold me under hostage.”

“You’re in the Caine Manor, though,” Alice revealed. “This is the home of Dr. Albert Caine, the herald of death. He told me you’d be living here until Lord Adaru figures out what to do with you.”

“You better tell me what’s going on right now or I’ll—“

“Shhh.” Anya shoved a silver spoon filled with a strange liquid inside Katharine’s mouth, shutting her up. To Katharine, the liquid tasted like pennies , or a strong supply of iron, the taste of blood. “That’s better. Now, we need to get you prepared for the ball!”

Katharine’s eyes squinted in confusion as the servants opened the double doors to the armoire that stored a variety of fancy dresses, all in dark shades of various colors. She knew that these people were placing her under some type of strange trap, and since there were no means of escape anywhere, she’d just have to fall for it until an opportunity opened up. And from the looks of it, there wouldn’t be one.

“Come over here, Katharine!” Alice beckoned. “You’re allowed to pick out your own dress for tonight.”

“I don’t wear dresses,” Katharine replied awkwardly as she emerged from the bed. “You know, they’re not my thing. I’m more of a tight-jeans and boots person.”

“But you need to look presentable!” Anya protested. “This is a ball being held in your honor. A formal ball, I might add. Dr. Caine is known for throwing very lavish parties.”

“Why would there be a party in my honor if I killed their fellow undead?”

“Just choose a dress already,” Alice hissed as she pushed Katharine closer to the armoire.

Katharine began to thumb through the dresses, each more fancier and detailed than the next. She stopped at a dark red gown with a ruffly bustle and flowing sleeves. Before she could push the dress aside and perhaps find a better one, Anya tightly grabbed Katharine’s wrist. She had chosen. “That’s a wonderful dress!” Anya said as she took the dress off of the hanger. “It’s colored red, the color of blood. How symbolic…”

Alice began to undress Katharine out of her t shirt, bra, and jeans as Anya set the dress down on the bed and brought over a basin half-filled with water. They both took a rag and washed Katharine down, eventually drying her off. Anya then spritzed a rose scented perfume on Katharine’s bare skin, which soothed her nose. Alice went back to the armoire and pulled out a corset, which was then wrapped around Katharine’s waist and tightly tied. Each time the corset’s strings were tightened, Katharine gasped for air like a fish out of water, losing her breath.

“I can’t breathe!” Katharine choked as she felt as if her entire chest was being shrunken down.

“A small waist is cute,” Anya chided as she tied the strings for a last time.

The girls then sat Katharine down near a mirror and began to open a wooden chest filled with eye and lip paints of different color. Anya first patted white powder onto Katharine’s face, using her bare hands to blend it in. Next, she went over to the wooden chest and opened a jar of black paint; she proceeded to dip her paintbrush into the jar and coated the black paint over Katharine’s eyelids, forming a nearly hollow look. Alice then took over her sister’s work as she took another paintbrush and dipped it into a jar of dark red paint, now painting Katharine’s lips. However, Alice wasn’t neatly painting Katharine’s lips; instead, she was painting fast, occasionally missing parts and instead painting an inch of her face.

“I look like a freak,” Katharine commented as she glared at her new appearance. “Can somebody tell me why this is even going on? Why am I going to some party?”

“Perhaps I could explain that,” a voice tinged with an Eastern European accent answered. Katharine turned her head to see a man wearing a suit standing in the doorway, an old fashioned camera in his hands.

“It’s Pavel!” Anya and Alice squealed in delight.

“It’s Paolo,” Paolo corrected the working girls for what seemed like the millionth time. “Pavel is my cousin from Slovakia. But let’s not change the subject. I am here to converse with Katharine.”

“You heralds love to sneak up on people, don’t you all?” Katharine said sarcastically, trying to hide her fright and slight crush on Paolo.

“It’s just a habit we possess. It’s part of the whole undead package, if you will.”

“I can see why.” Katharine rolled her eyes. Despite one of the heralds of fear being in her presence, she wasn’t fazed at Paolo’s attempts at hitting on her.

“Anyway, to answer your question as to why we’re throwing a party for you, remember that little part of Adaru’s sentence that involved you becoming undead? Well, that’s happening tonight, and I’m the one that’s turning you. Think of it as a ceremony of sorts.”

Katharine’s blood thinned. The whole fancy dress and ball situation was to celebrate her fall, her unwilling succumbing?

“I am Paolo Ravinski, Lord Adaru’s herald of sacrifice,” Paolo continued. “By sacrifice, I create films in which my actors die suffering for their passion, my art. Their sacrifice makes me stronger, and makes my films successful.”

“You kill people for the purpose of film?” Katharine asked angrily.

“Sir, we’re trying to prepare Katharine, and as you can see, we’re not quite done yet,” Anya said, trying to break up the potential fight. “You want her to look her best, right?”

“Oh, yes,” Paolo realized. “I must say, you girls have done a decent job with her face so far. I overheard Katharine’s dissatisfaction with your work, but the eye makeup and bloody red lips make her look… ravishing.”

Katharine groaned audibly as she threw the nearest item that lay near her, a hairbrush at the herald of sacrifice. Anya quickly closed the door on Paolo to prevent anymore arguments, and picked up the hairbrush from the floor.

“Woah,” Alice said. Katharine noticed there was a significant change in Alice’s voice. When she introduced herself to Katharine, she sounded perky and high-pitched like her sister. Now, her voice had gotten deeper and more natural sounding. Alice looked up at Katharine, realizing that her real voice had come out. “You really know how to defend yourself from annoying people, don’t you?” 

Katharine made a sound of agreement in her throat. “And you know how to portray yourselves as creepy girls pulled right out of _The Shining_.”

“It’s the only way to really save ourselves from the heralds,” Anya said quietly as Alice chuckled, her real voice also a tad deeper. “We play a game. The more respectful and obedient we are, the less abuse we receive. We have to do every single thing he heralds demand, whether it’s serving dinner or actually going out to recruit legion members for Adaru. Since we’re Morphan, we don’t do much. We just give out poisoned candy which will instantly kill a mortal.”

“And what happens if you don’t do anything?” Katharine asked.

Alice lifted her blouse sleeve to reveal a dark bruise. “This is a fresh one from a few hours ago,” Alice informed Katharine. “Since we’re undead, injuries heal up pretty quick, so this isn’t anything to worry about. But sometimes, the pain can be worse.” Alice lowered her voice. “I can’t talk about that in front of Anya, though. She’ll get extremely upset.”

“Alice, we really need to finish up Katharine,” Anya said in a panicked tone. “The heralds are going to be angered.” Her eyes kept on shifting from side to side.

“Calm down, sis!” Alice said. “We still have some time.”

Anya opened the armoire’s small cabinet and drew out a pair of lacy black gloves, slipping them over Katharine’s hands. Anya then began to tie Katharine’s hair into a high, messy bun as Alice placed black satin shoes over Katharine’s feet. The working girls walked backward to examine their work, the undead fighter turned into an unwilling blood donor and future Strengoit.

“There,” Alice said, “you’re all ready to go. Wait until the heralds see how different you look. They love when the pretty mortals turn all ugly and stuff. Not that you’re ugly, of course.”

“She’s missing something,” Anya noticed as she went back to the armoire cabinet. She pulled out a black choker with a spidery design, placing it around Katharine’s exposed neck. “Now she’s ready.”

Katharine emerged from her chair and admired herself in the mirror, playfully spinning around so the bustle of the dress twirled. “So, when does this ball start?” Katharine asked after a moment or two of silence.

“Not until a few hours from now,” Alice replied. “It’s about eight o’clock now, and the ball doesn’t start until eleven. Unless you want to go down and have dinner with the heralds, there really isn’t much you can do.”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin my makeup if I went down to dinner!” Katharine said jokingly. “But seriously, I think I might go down… try to get my way out of this…”

“Good luck with that.”

“Alice!” Anya exclaimed. “You can’t say that! Lady Luck will only make the situation worse! Katharine, do you want us to usher you to the dining room?”

“Usher,” Alice snorted. “We’ve got an usher around these places.”

“Don’t even remind me of the usher!” Katharine said. “He’s the one who caught me and my comrades.”

“Your comrades?” Anya asked.

“My friends and fellow fighters,” Katharine explained. “There’s my best friend, Lacey, and my boyfriend, Chase. We all met after Lacey’s mother got bitten by a Kerezan and Chase found shelter in base. At that time, ZAP was only open for a few days, and we were looking for new hires. Chase knew a thing or two about mechanics, and Lacey was interested in fighting off the pain of her mother’s death.”

Just then, a knock sounded upon Katharine’s door. The voice behind the door spoke, or rather hoarsely squealed a pattern of sounds. “Is he okay?” Katharine asked while listening to the voice.

“That’s just one of Albert’s followers,” Anya explained. “His name is Gryffin, and the only way he can communicate is through squealing, since he has no tongue. Anyway, he’s trying to tell us that your presence is requested downstairs for dinner. Looks like you have to go.”

“I can do this,” Katharine whispered to herself as Anya proceeded to open the door. “I won’t let these undead freaks bring me down. I’m gonna stand my ground.”


	8. Blackest Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine faces her fears as she is forced to join the dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for blood, gore, and a major (but expected) character death. Also, kudos to you if you can find the reference to a familiar face from Horror Nights' past in this chapter.

**6\. Blackest Rose**

As Anya and Alice led her down the staircase, Katharine couldn’t help but think of her fate. _If only that usher wasn’t a snitch_ , Katharine thought. Her muscles tensed as she came to the sense of a lingering doom. She’d be one of the heralds’ kind in a mere few hours. She’d be pretty – pretty dead.

“Katharine, were you listening to us just now?” Anya asked in her disguised, high-pitched voice. Since Anya and Alice were to be in the presence of the heralds again, they had resumed acting like the feral, eerily obedient servants that Katharine first met.

“No, what were you saying?” Katharine answered.

“The heralds would prefer if you didn’t talk to them yet,” Alice told her. “Since you aren’t undead yet, they want nothing to do with you.”

“Well, that’s nice. Maybe they shouldn’t have invited me to dinner in the first place!”

“Katharine,” Alice went back to using her regular voice in a whisper. “I’m not saying that to be mean. I’m telling you that because of past experience. Normally, when Albert lures in somebody, he tells them not to converse with the undead persons until he starts asking stuff about them for the legions.”

“That makes perfect sense.”

“Shhh!” Anya hissed. “Right after this bend, the heralds are going to see you!”

Just as Anya said, the heralds were sitting down at the dining table in plain sight after they made a left turn from the foyer. Katharine found herself hanging her head down, unable to bear looking at the ones who ruined ZAP. She could feel their icy glares pinning her down, their quiet chortles of laughter.

“Come in, Katharine,” she heard Albert say. “We’ve been expecting you.”

Katharine lifted her head up, noticing that a few extra people had joined the heralds for dinner. Next to Jack, she noticed his pigtailed girlfriend, Chance, dressed provocatively in a white corset with multi-colored pom-poms and a red skirt. Sitting next to Albert was a little girl a few years younger than Hayley, wearing black and gray gingham.

“Ooh, she’s so pretty!” Katharine heard the little girl say, breaking the silence.

“Silence, Cindy,” Albert told his adopted daughter.

Katharine couldn’t say anything, as Alice instructed her to. Not wanting to look like the innocent, willing donor victim, she glared back at the little girl. She was going to keep her stance as the fighter, the one who wouldn’t take anyone’s shit. Katharine then scanned her eyes around the perimeter of the table, trying to find an empty seat. She didn’t want to sit next to any of them, but that was impossible. But she managed to find an empty seat at the edge of the table, but it was next to the herald she despised the most.

Julian Browning.

Katharine unceremoniously walked over to the seat and sat down, trying to keep her gaze away from the heralds. She had to be mute, or else someone’s ass was going to die and not go on to the afterlife. That was what she was at least grateful for; she would be living, but dead: the living dead.

“Well, friends,” Albert began, “thanks to Julian, we have finally stopped the extinction of the legions. We have caught the rebel guilty of her sinful actions against us!” The heralds began clapping slowly, much to Katharine’s displeasure. “Our task is completed. Katharine Romero is now our prisoner!”

Katharine wanted to scream. She hated these heralds, these life-ruining bastards. She wished she had her rifle by her side, wanting to blow out the brains of all of them. But she couldn’t. They had taken it all away, her dreams destroyed and her reputation ruined.

“So, Katharine,” Albert turned his direction to Katharine. “Do you still mourn the deaths of the ones who founded the business against us?”

She couldn’t answer. She kept a blank face, trying to show all of them that their laughs weren’t affecting her. But deep down inside, they were. They were laughing at her suffering. To them, suffering was comedic, a sideshow. Just as Katharine was about to open her mouth, Albert began speaking again. “That’s too bad. I do have their corpses buried in my graveyard if you wish to mourn over them sometime. After all, my home is a functioning mortuary.”

“Bring up my father again, and I’ll do everything in my power to kill you,” Katharine said venomously, pounding her fists on the table. “I’ll kill every last one of you!”

The heralds started to laugh hysterically. “How would you do that, Katharine?” she could hear Paolo ask. “You’ve been stripped of all your weapons, so now you’re weak!”

Meanwhile, Lady Luck, who sat next to Paolo, was laughing as if this was a huge joke. To Katharine, she almost appeared drunk, occasionally reaching over to grip her wine goblet as if she desperately needed a drink. But Katharine really knew what Luck was drunk with: unluckiness. She was basking in the glory of leading people into terrible predicaments, her specialty.

Anya and a young male servant arrived into the dining room wheeling a cart with a platter on it. Once Anya opened the platter, they went around the table to each seat, cutting what appeared to be meat to place on the heralds’ plates. As they wheeled the cart over to Katharine, the servants noticed a look of worry on her face.

“What is that?” Katharine whispered to the young boy servant.

“It is called gigot d’homme,” the young boy, named Gabriel replied as Anya cut up some of the meat. “I’m not allowed to tell you what the dish’s name translates to.”

Katharine was left to discover what gigot d’homme translated to once Anya set the meat on her plate. She noticed that the meat was covered in what appeared to be a skin-colored pastry. When she turned it around with her fork, she saw that there was a huge, meaty stump on one of the sides, and a large bone was protruding from the middle. Glancing at the heralds chowing down at their meal, Katharine had no decision but to play along and actually taste the meat for itself. She took a knife and cut herself a very small portion. Once she finished, she took a fork, stabbed the meat (which oozed more blood), and brought it to her lips. As soon as her tongue met the flavor of the meat, she immediately grabbed for a napkin and spat the food out discreetly. The heralds had stopped eating and watched Katharine spit out the meat. She looked up, glaring at them again.

“It’s human,” Katharine spoke.

“What was that, Katharine?” Albert asked.

“It’s human! You’re feeding me a part of a human!”

“Well, it is survival of the fittest now,” Jack said.

"Survival of the fittest? Really? You all have your vampires and zombies going around and killing people for no reason, and you call that survival of the fittest? I don't understand why you all like to watch people suffer so much. Everyone's scared because you want us to be dead and fight each other just so some demon gets power! Fear won't be taking over the whole entire world, I know of it. You all need to let this unrealistic idea go and just rot away. You've been resurrected for the wrong reason!"

“But that is Lord Adaru’s purpose!” Paolo exclaimed in anger.

“We may need to give her more time,” Elsa told the others sympathetically. This made Katharine look up a little. “She is still trying to adjust to the announcement that she will become one of us.”

“You’re damn right,” Katharine whispered, tears stinging in her eyes.

She braced herself as she rose from her seat, collected her skirts, and ran as fast as she could back to her bedroom. She couldn’t care less if any of the other heralds got up to chase after her; she was done with them ruining her life and dreams. As Katharine slammed the door shut, she collapsed onto her bed and started to sob painfully. To her, it felt like all of her emotions were caught in a whirlwind, finally now freeing themselves of her body. It was sadness, anger, annoyance, and rage all in one, and Katharine had only just noticed. The members of the legions she had killed in the past were now coming back to haunt her, and make her one of them. She was receiving the punishment that the undead called justice. As Katharine tried to fight back another portion of sobs, she found herself falling asleep again, trying to ease herself of the pain.

* * *

 

_11:58 pm._

Katharine awoke to the sound of joyous, orchestral music playing loudly on a record player. That party they were talking about must’ve started, Katharine remembered as she got off her bed. She walked over to the armoire to double-check her hair and makeup, but then realized it really wouldn’t make a difference. With her messy bed hair and stained makeup, she looked like a corpse dug fresh out of a grave, just how the heralds liked it.

After Katharine shut the door behind her, she stood for a moment to recollect her thoughts. She had let them win; she was letting them turn her into a member of the Strengoit legion. There was no going back now. She couldn’t fight anymore; the time for that was gone. Everything and everyone important to her was gone: Hayley might be dead, Chase might be dead, Lacey might be dead. She already knew Tom and George were dead, falling at the hands of the heralds. Her own father, as well as his best friend, died trying to stop what they fought against. Now, it was her turn.

“Enough of your self-pitying,” Katharine heard a slimy, accented voice tell her. “Once you are undead, nothing of the past will matter anymore.”

When she turned around, she was nearly horrified to see Julian, the very usher that kept invading her thoughts. “How do you know?” Katharine asked him.

“Because, obviously, I am undead myself, but I did not wish to become this way, nor was I initially accepting of it. When Fortuna told me that I had become undead, she told me that the struggles I had in my mortal past were of no use to solve anymore. My only mission now is to kill those who invoke my vengeance and send their souls away.” “

Then why are you so hateful of people? Why not give them a second chance?”

Julian paused. “Rules must be followed and orders must be fulfilled. When they are broken, they are doomed to be broken again. The true nature of the rules becomes tainted, failing to keep order.” The grandfather clock in the foyer loudly chimed twelve times over the party music. “I must get you to the ball now. Albert is not a person who is fine with tardiness, and neither am I.”

And for the first time, Katharine didn’t rebel against him. She followed the rules.

They proceeded to enter the ballroom, where everyone present at dinner was conversing with each other. Cindy was dancing with Albert, who was leading her in a dance, nearly comedic because of their different heights. Paolo was standing to the side of the room, filming the entire event, while a ghostly, scratched up woman watched from inside a nearby mirror.

Albert then noticed Katharine, pausing his dancing with Cindy. “So, Katharine,” he said, “You’ve decided to embrace your fate at last.”

“I had to,” Katharine replied meekly. What Julian had told her stung her mind. Once you’re undead, nothing of the past will matter anymore.

“Well, I am pleased to see that your rebellious exterior is starting to fade. You’ve even prepared yourself to display the situation!”

“It wasn’t me who did it,” Katharine said a bit tensely. Although she loosened up for Julian, her rebellious nature wasn’t gone for good. “Anya and Alice helped me out. They did a pretty good job.” Now that was a lie. She still looked like death either way.

“Yes, those servant girls have a vast variety of abilities. Now, I do you want you to come and enjoy the ball. It is in your honor!”

As soon as Katharine started to move, Cindy immediately approached her. “Dance with me!” she ordered.

“Uh,” Katharine looked back at the heralds and their guests, who were now eerily smiling at her. “Okay.”

Cindy took each of Katharine’s hands and led her into a round of ‘Ring around the Rosie’. By the time the song ended, Katharine was thrown to the floor by the girl, which made the heralds laugh. “Why did you do that?” Katharine asked angrily.

“Well, because you have to fall down!” Cindy replied, giggling. “I don’t think you get it.”

“It’s just a children’s song, it doesn’t have to make sense.” Katharine rose back to her feet.

“I’m Cindy Caine,” Cindy introduced herself. “I’m Albert’s daughter, and I was adopted from Good Harvest Orphanage ! We totally beat you and your rebel friends!”

“Great to know,” Katharine mumbled.

Cindy had gone back to dancing with her father, leaving Katharine by herself to get to know the heralds. She walked over to a table where Elsa, Lady Luck, and Chance were sitting, discussing matters of death. She also noticed Jack, the clown ringmaster sitting behind Chance, occasionally using his hand to feel up her leg.

“I wanted to stab a spear right into his cranium!” Elsa told the others, tugging on her tan shawl while finishing a story. “He ought to have learned some discipline as a youngling.”

“Look who has arrived,” Luck crooned as she noticed Katharine approach them. “You know, Katharine, I found your little friends and your sister near the Palace earlier.”

“You did?” Katharine gasped in excitement. This was the first time she was greeted with something positive, something about her loved ones. “You know about everybody’s luck. Tell me everything!”

Luck smirked. To Katharine, something was clearly wrong, but to Luck, things were extremely right. “They are obviously not in the best condition. They were sitting in an alleyway, waiting for you. I showed up to them since they were in bad luck, and told them that you weren’t coming back to save them. I said that you decided to just give up on hope and that you accepted your fate to become our prisoner.”

Katharine felt a sharp pang of regret in her heart. “I would never say that, you freak!”

“They believed me,” Luck chuckled darkly. “They’re off on their own now, trying to find Eddie.”

“He’s dead now,” Jack added. “Albert got the little prick, and now his soul’s Adaru’s.”

“No!” Katharine nearly screamed. “He was my friend!”

“That fool was on your side, Romero! He should’ve got the note to join the Maschorians once Adaru came back. But nope!”

“He’s got a point, ya know,” Chance added. “Eddie couldn’t stay for much longer. He was betraying the Order!”

“He was trying to protect the mortals!” Katharine exclaimed. “He helped us out so much at ZAP, spreading news about you… you…” The attention from everyone was now shifted back to her, eagerly waiting to hear what she would say next. Katharine noticed that Julian was giving her a look, an expression that was trying to say, “Don’t you remember what I told you?”

“Paolo,” Albert said. “It is time.”

Gabriel was standing next to the record player, switching out the records. Before, a joyous orchestral tune played; now, a slow, gloomy waltz took its place. Katharine watched as Paolo started to walk toward her, handing his camera to Gryffin, the bald follower from earlier. He placed his cold hands in hers, and looked at her right in the eyes.

“Just follow my lead,” Paolo instructed Katharine. “I don’t want Fortuna’s random dancing lessons to go to waste.”

The other heralds and their guests watched in excitement as Paolo lead Katharine into a waltz, a bit out of time with the music. As Katharine gazed into Paolo’s bright, almost white blue eyes, she couldn’t help but start to fall under his Strengoit spell. Persuasion was definitely one of their tactics, and striking appearances were another. Paolo had both, and now, Katharine couldn’t fight the urge to stop herself from his trap.

“Paolo?” Katharine eventually asked, becoming breathless. “Are you… are you going to do it now?”

“Keep dancing,” he ordered. As they did another spin, Paolo held Katharine close to him, and started to tilt her head back to reach the prized spot, her jugular vein. Katharine looked at Paolo in fear; Lord Adaru was definitely feeding on her by now.

“Ready?” Paolo asked Katharine, trying to hold back laughter.

“Do your worst,” Katharine replied dryly, trying to hold back her fear.

A pair of fangs now appeared on Paolo’s grin. He then dove down right to Katharine’s neck and bit the flesh that covered the inner workings, eventually finding the jugular vein. Meanwhile, Katharine’s body felt cold everywhere, numbing her down. Paolo’s fangs were so sharp that she screamed in pain, screaming in vain that she had now lost her life as a mortal. She collapsed onto the floor, letting her life slip away from her reach.

“Daddy, what’s wrong with Katharine?” Cindy had to ask. The girl was only ten; life and death were a puzzle to her.

“Nothing, dearest,” Albert replied as she stopped her from getting any closer. “Katharine is just very tired and needs rest.”

“So she passed out on the floor?”

“Yes, Cindy. She did.”

As everyone started to crowd around her, Katharine’s body froze, now motionless. But after a moment or two, Katharine’s body was slowly reanimating, readying itself to become one of the walking dead . Her skin had turned nearly white, and her hair had become black. That wasn’t all, however; since Katharine was undead now, she would have the appearance of a corpse, with sunken in cheekbones and dark under-eye circles. Katharine bared her teeth, showing her audience that her Strengoit fangs were growing in.

“She will make a very alluring Strengoit,” Luck remarked as she watched Katharine become aware of her new undead body.

“She is a child of the night now,” Julian said.

Katharine finally opened her eyes, revealing to her audience that they were now yellow. She ran her tongue over her new fangs, and brought her hands to her eyes to see just how pale she was now.

“Would you like a mirror, Katharine?” Albert asked.

Katharine simply nodded, as Albert showed her the way to the mirror on the wall. The ghostly woman who appeared behind it faded away, so Katharine got a glimpse of her new reflection. When she noticed her yellow eyes, she flinched, moving a foot away from the mirror.

“No…” Katharine said in fear, disbelieving her new image. “No… I’m… undead…”

The heralds and their companions laughed joyously in triumph as Katharine sank down to her knees in failure, knowing that she had just let her family and comrades down by becoming what she had fought against.

 

 


	9. Fear Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adaru muses over the past, present, and future. This is a short drabble chapter.

**7\. Fear Awakening**

_The Romero girl is dead, master, and her comrades are in desperation._

The news made him smile widely, euphoria going through his veins. His plans were coming together now. The Zombie Awareness Program was seized, the inventory destroyed and the founders dead. Katharine Romero was kidnapped and now made undead, a member of the Strengoit legion. One glimpse of her new appearance and she was on the floor of the ballroom crying, spitting out curses. She desired for her old life to return, a life where family and fighting meant more than being dead and fulfilling a purpose meant to be finished decades ago. Katharine Romero was his property now, and her fear is what he would latch and feed onto until All Hallows’ Eve.

The girl’s depression only made him stronger, along with the many souls continually being claimed each day. His heralds were doing a brilliant job – according to his herald of death’s book of Carey civilians , only forty-five remained alive or unaccounted for. By All Hallows’ Eve, these souls had better be claimed, or else fear would not be revealed yet again.

He waits no longer.

Her comrades, in a way, were even weaker than her. Alive, but just barely, fighting for survival. They too would not be mortal much longer. Fear had plans for them. Two would die, one would stay alive. He knew exactly who, and their means of death. Both involved them turning to the legions for unlife.

Only more power for him, and for fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this little drabble sheds light on Adaru's purpose(s) for the first half of the story! Seeing as he's the most undeveloped HHN character, my main goal for Adaru was to flesh him out (pun intended, har har) and give him some actual conflicts and whatnot. But, I can't give away too much yet! ;)


	10. Beast Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lacey, Chase, and Hayley set off on their journey to find Katharine's whereabouts and some supplies. They have a run-in with a mysterious beggar woman, who may be more than she seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually a little nervous about posting this chapter. One of the characters (you will see who) has a history of being abused as a child, and I feel like I didn't write their history well enough. If you agree with me, then... I'm really sorry if the scene/flashback came off the wrong way. But anyway, trigger warning for a description of child abuse, strong language, and a mention of violence.

**8\. Beast Within**

_October 25th, 2010. An abandoned home near the western outskirts of Carey. 1:13 pm._

Hayley rose from the couch she slept on, shielding her eyes from the burning bright sunlight of the afternoon. She looked through the cracked window of the home that she, Lacey, and Chase managed to hide in after leaving Eddie’s headless corpse to rot away in peace. Hayley finally got her good look of Carey’s destroyed, undead ridden streets, with its abandoned buildings and unclean roads stained with dried up blood. Her sister was right; this was only going to get worse if the undead weren’t stopped now.

Lacey awoke next, tying her blonde hair back into a ponytail with a pink scrunchie wrapped around her wrist. She noticed her awake young companion and tiredly smiled. Her expression then changed into slight annoyance upon checking the watch she kept on her other wrist, noticing the quite late time. “Damn! It’s almost one-thirty in the afternoon! We got to get moving if we want to find supplies laying around. Get up, Chase!"

Hayley kept staring through the window, expressionless. This was one of her first times being outside, separated from her father and sister and on the road. She thought zombie slaying was going to be a fun experience, that Carey could finally be free from paranormal activity. But after seeing the heralds and some of the legions live and in person, Hayley had started to second-guess herself.

 _Maybe undead hunting isn’t all it’s meant out to be_ , Hayley thought to herself, trying to block out Lacey talking to her. _Katharine made it look like the best thing in the whole world. I can’t go and kill someone who was once living with my own hands! Once everyone’s dead, how would we kill Lord Adaru anyway? I can’t fight like Katharine, or any of her friends . If I tried, I’ll just get killed._

“Hayley, are you okay?” Lacey asked sympathetically, slowly walking to Hayley’s side.

“I’ve just realized that this isn’t going to end anytime soon,” Hayley replied solemnly. “The legions are eating up everybody, one by one. They’re only getting more people to their side. How could we kill all of them when we’re doomed to become one of them?”

“Hey, look at us! We’re still alive and kicking ass!”

“Well, I know. But my dad might be dead and might have become one of those Kerezans or Baccanoids. And it’s the same for George. And possibly even…”

 _No._ Hayley couldn’t even think of her sister right now. She knew she had to suck this baby nonsense up and move on, because she’s a fighter now. That’s what Katharine would’ve done. But when alone or with a friend, would Katharine sob her guts out to let out all the pain and suffering?

Hayley broke down in a fury of tears. She was trying to make a good impression for Chase and Lacey, her sister’s awesome friends. They fought with all these heavy weapons, while she sat away in the corner, reading a survival guide. She actually wanted to go out and fight! And she was trying, observing how Chase sliced Eddie’s head off so she could use the same tactic whenever battle arose. But now, she realized that fighting off evil wasn’t her strongest suit. How could she impress the comrades?

“Oh, Hayley…” Lacey said sadly as she wrapped her arms around Hayley, trying to give her sisterly comfort as Katharine would’ve done. “I know you’re upset about your sister. And so are me and Chase.” Lacey looked out of the cracked window, trying to find some determination in the light. “We’re going to find her. I know she’s still out there somewhere. I know it.”

Hayley wanted to tell Lacey that Katharine wasn’t the only thing on her mind right now. She wanted to be a comrade, and actually fight, but she felt like she would be useless. She wasn’t sarcastic like the both of them, and never received training for any weapon. ‘You’re too young’, she’d be told all the time. She was sick of being the baby. She wanted to prove her worth, but how?

A little while later, Chase woke up and led the girls out of the house and back to the streets. “I just remembered something," he said to them as they passed the usual abandoned storefronts. "We’re weaponless. If we run into any of the legions, we’re screwed.”

“How did you not notice that?” Lacey asked angrily. “We could’ve got stuff back at Eddie’s place!”

“Well, Eddie’s death sort of distracted me,” Chase replied sheepishly, lifting Eddie’s decapitated head up, which was still attached to his belt. “I wanted to get out of there fast, in case any of the heralds came back to get his corpse.”

“Acceptable,” Lacey replied. “Although given our case now, I actually want to see one of the heralds and find out if they know anything about Katharine.”

“Well, we saw Lady Luck,” Hayley remembered. “She told us that Katharine’s safe, but she didn’t exactly tell us where she is.”

“Because she’s Lady Luck,” Chase said. “She wasn’t going to tell us where Katharine is unless we agreed to go with her. That’s her thing, leading people into bad choices. You’ve got to understand that now, fate isn’t in anyone’s favor, especially now and here.”

“So, are there any heralds we can easily find right now?" Hayley asked. "Most of them don’t have set places, not that we know of.”

“Well, there’s that usher at the Palace Theater, but he hates our guts, remember? He especially hates me and Lacey for sneaking into Katharine’s trial.”

“And intervening in the first place,” Lacey added.

“Perhaps I could help you three out,” the raspy voice of an elderly woman said behind the trio. They turned around to see that this woman was dressed in rags from head to toe, a cut-up burlap sack serving as her hat. Her almost white hair was easily stained by dirt and blood, and her wrinkled face bore bloody scratches.

“Hey, are you all right?” Hayley asked the woman, who seemed helpless. “Your face is all bloodied up! It needs to be cleaned.”

“Don’t worry about me, love,” the beggar woman replied. “I’m worried about you children. I overheard you asking about where Fear’s heralds might be hiding.”

“You mean you know something about them?” Lacey asked in curiosity.

“Why, yes, a bit.” She gestured over to a bench near a fork in the road. As she crossed the street, the trio followed her, as she stopped at the bench and sat down. “That’s much better. I’ve been on foot for quite a while now. Now, where was I?”

“You know about the heralds,” Chase reminded the woman.

“Oh, yes! That’s right. Now, I overheard your conversation about trying to find one of the heralds for information about a friend of yours.”

“Her name is Katharine,” Lacey said.

“Yes, Katharine. Now, I know of a few places you could possibly try to seek one of the heralds. I'm warning you now, though, that this could be a little risky. The first one is the Caine manor. It’s a bit hidden in the woods, but it’s quite visible from a distance. You can’t miss it! It may look abandoned, but I assure you that Dr. Caine is busy working there, arranging funerals for the fallen . You might want to be careful in that place, though.”

“Wait a second…” Hayley thought to herself out loud. “I think I’ve seen it before! I saw it from the alleyway near the Palace.”

“The next place, of course, is the Universal Palace Theater. But I overheard that Julian, the usher might have thoughts about you. I can tell you that Julian is a very mysterious person. You never quite know his true nature. Vengeful, yes, but I’ve seen him be very caring towards interested patrons.”

“How do you know that?” Lacey asked. “We’ve definitely seen his bad side when he came to ZAP. I was pretty sure he didn’t have a good side to him. Are you friends with him or something?”

The woman rummaged into her straw basket and revealed a ripped up ticket stub to the film The Wolfman, which she then brought up to Lacey’s eyes. “It helps to respect the theater for what it’s worth,” the beggar told Lacey. “If you do, then perhaps you’ll see a different side of Julian’s.”

“Huh. The Wolfman,” Lacey remarked. “That’s an old movie, isn’t it ?”

“Guys,” Chase said anxiously, “we really need to get back to Eddie’s place for new weapons. We don’t have time to sit down and listen to some old lady tell stories!”

“Chase, give her time!” Hayley replied. “She actually seems to know stuff about the heralds.” She turned back to the woman. “Sorry about that. Do you know of any other places?”

“I do,” the woman replied, “but this place is more dangerous than the other two. You may have known it as one of those sweepstakes buildings near the edge of town, but now… now, it is one of the dwellings of Fortuna, otherwise known as Lady Luck. She is a very intelligent woman, but you never quite know when she’ll give you a subtle hint. But she can also play against your cards… or so I’ve been told.”

“So Lady Luck can actually be a good person?” Chase asked.

“Like I said, you never quite know. But if you want information out of her, you’re going to have to wager something. Luckily, she’s been kind to me the few times I’ve seen her around. She’s helping out the now homeless, the near dying. I hear them tell her that they searched for the Zombie Awareness Program’s protection, but it’s been closed down.”

A huge pang of sorrow hit the trio. They now knew ZAP’s condition, which was good as dead. Katharine was definitely gone.

“Do you know anything about the founders of ZAP?” Lacey asked pleadingly. “One of them was my uncle. George Savini, do you know him?”

The old woman turned to Lacey sadly. After a moment of silence, she said, “Unfortunately, I heard he was found dead.”

Lacey’s blue eyes started to fill with tears. Her worst fear was confirmed; her beloved uncle was dead. She knew he was killed by one of the heralds, probably the old nobleman who she forgot the name of.

“So is George is dead, then that means…” Hayley concluded. She lost control of her breathing, choking, holding back the tears. “Dad. Katharine.” As Hayley began her sobbing, Lacey held her in her lap.

Meanwhile, Chase was trying to suck in his emotions. Tom and George saved his life that one, late summer night. If it wasn’t for their gratitude, he would’ve still been living in a parent-less, empty void, still getting carelessly thrashed around like a toy. Chase’s father hadn’t been that kind to him; he never was. He was always suffering his father’s harsh words and the physical pain he had to endure. His stepmother was even worse. When she wasn’t out drunk and partying over in Columbus, she was too busy kissing his father's ass and not giving a damn about what he thought about being abused by the monster of a man. These were times Chase would always try to shrug off and block, but in the darker times, they always resurfaced.

But then, one night, his parents both went out together. Chase could only imagine what it would be like when they got home, completely hammered and surprisingly free from the cops. He was sick of being called the fuck-up all the time, getting hit and scratched and even burnt with a cigarette during a dysfunctional Thanksgiving gathering… he couldn’t take it anymore. He decided to do what he felt was best this time around; he wrote a note and ran away to Carey, eventually finding shelter at ZAP after killing a few wandering zombies with only his feet and his fists, to finally break free and fight off the pain.

Although initially suspicious, Tom was kind enough to let him in, in exchange for Chase joining ZAP as a fighter. He would start training with Tom’s daughter, Katharine that morning. She’d show him everything she knew – knife-throwing, basic shooting tactics, having been taught in the subject of survival against zombies nearly all her life. Once Chase met Katharine, he realized he was talking to the most beautiful, funniest girl he ever met.

As they bonded throughout the months before Adaru’s Awakening, Chase was nervous to tell Katharine his true origins. How his cries for help were ignored by his stepmother, abused severely by his father… and one night, during a thunderstorm, he found Katharine in his bedroom, looking for comfort.

“Chase…” she began. “Can I… stay in here for a while?”

“What’s wrong?” he asked her. “Scared of thunderstorms?”

“If you keep it between us, I’ll tell you.”

“All right, fine.”

“Then… yes, Chase. Although zombies are the last things I’d be scared of, thunderstorms actually scare the living shit out of me!”

They shared a good laugh then. Katharine was launching herself into a conversation to block out the sound of the thunder. She talked about her favorite horror movies and how she laughed at them instead of hiding under the blankets, how Tom accidentally shot a tree instead of a deer during target practice … and then Chase knew. Being in Katharine’s company and listening to her stories was one of the best things he’d ever experienced. It was the same for Tom and George; spending time with them and learning their tricks of the trade taught him how to avenge his past and fight off the pain. Chase owed it to them -- the two of them made up for the father figure that he never recalled seeing once in his life. 

As the positivity and strengthening self esteem changed him, Chase had almost forgotten about his tragic past. He was going to tell Katharine, when they were alone in her bedroom, the only place where he felt his life story was welcomed. However, with the heralds and Kerezans being free to roam around by the time he felt ready to confess, battle awaited, distracting not only Katharine, but his father figures as well. Now, all three of them were dead, victims of the undead war. The threat of war and death had really taken over the town, and it was slowly but surely swallowing up everyone still living.

And Chase had lost the girl who changed his life.

“Chase…” Lacey sniffled between her sobs. “Are you… are you actually crying?”

It was true. For the first time in a while, tears were running down Chase’s cheeks. He just wanted to rage out and become the beast within him; the belligerence he held inside for so long could finally be utilized against the heartless, soul-stealing heralds, and he wanted the deed to be done as soon as possible.  He was impatient - he couldn't control it. They took his girl, the only girl in his life he strongly cared for, and the men who taught him that vengeance against the dead may possibly be the answer. Aside from Lacey and Hayley, who were still learning the art of war, Chase had no one left, just like the beginning.

“Dearie,” the old woman said, placing a hand on Chase's shoulder. The old beggar was still sitting with them.  “Sometimes, we just have to let go and honor the fallen for what they’ve done. They’ve served their time, and fought bravely. Just like your Katharine.” The woman got up from the bench and started her way out away from the trio. “I must go now. I hope I have given you enough information to aid you in your travels. I am sorry I had to reveal the state of the Zombie Awareness Program, but it was in my best thinking to do so.”

"You're a liar!" Chase shouted. "Katharine is still alive! Undead, but still with us! Once we find her, we're going to kick all of the undead's sorry asses out of this town once and for all!" He watched as the old beggar made her way down the street, the fog blocking vision of what lay ahead. Through gritted teeth, Chase said, “I’m sick of the false hope. I’m sick of the bad luck and the lies. We’re going to find her. And once we do, the heralds of fear will die.”

For a second, Chase thought he saw the old woman look back at him with glaring, bright green eyes. When he looked down to his belt, Eddie’s head was gone.


	11. Perfect Insanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Trio continue their search for weapons, Lacey comes across a hidden door where madness awaits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for blood, gore, and slight language as usual.
> 
> 3/7/15: I edited this chapter since Shaun uses a cricket bat instead of a golf club. Thanks for reminding me, John! c:

**9\. Perfect Insanity**

Later that day; abandoned warehouse of RUN, 5:30 pm.

 

After trying to recover from the harsh truths delivered by the beggar woman, as well as the sudden disappearance of Eddie’s head, the trio managed to calm down and resume their trek back to RUN. Once they returned, they noticed RUN’s interior to be vandalized with the symbol of the Maschorian legion, the words ‘Maschorian Territory’ written with what appeared to be blood. When they made their way inside, they started their search of finding weapons, guided by Chase.

Lacey wasn’t having the easiest of times trying to find a feasible weapon. All she could find were boxes filled with scrap metal or rusty knives. Occasionally, a chainsaw blade or some gun ammo could be found within the boxes of metal, but of course, there was no chainsaw or gun to be found anywhere. “Let me guess,” she remarked, setting down what must’ve been the thousandth rusty knife she found, “the legions ransacked this place of its weapons, too? I can’t seem to find anything worth using!”

“But a knife can be something,” Hayley replied, recalling her beloved survival guide. “Unlike a gun, blades don’t need reloading. A knife can be just as useful as a pistol or a crossbow.”

“But it’s too basic!” Lacey exclaimed in frustration. “It’s just a knife, whoop-dee-do. It’s not like it’s going to get the kill done faster! And besides, this knife’s dull. It wouldn’t even go through the zombie’s flesh!”

“You know, Hayley’s got a point,” Chase said as he placed another box of storage down on the floor. “You’ve seen most of the greatest zombie movies before. And in some of them, the heroes don’t even use anything fancy like guns! Remember when Shaun used a cricket bat to knock out that whole horde of zombies? Or when Tallahassee smashed the head of a zombie with nothing but his banjo?”

“Like I would kill a zombie with a banjo,” Lacey retorted.

“Still, though. We can’t just be relying on the cooler-looking stuff all the time! What if we run out of ammo? You can’t really find much ammo lying around anymore. That, and gas. That’s why I realized using a chainsaw for every mission wasn’t worth it. Face it, finding any useful resource would be a miracle right now. Those damn legions seized everything because they know the survivors are looking for them. They know the right moment to strike.”

After another half hour of shifting through storage boxes, the trio was about to call it quits. If the legions even did infiltrate the place – which was likely – they were smart enough to take every functional weapon they could find.

Lacey, however, stayed determined that she could find at least a decent weapon. As she lifted herself up from the floor, she noticed a metal door in the farthest corner of the warehouse, hiding something unknown to her. Maybe some of Eddie’s spare weapons the legions didn’t know about? Or were there resources like gas that Chase needed? Either way, she wanted to go through that door and see what was there. She knew that Eddie cared about the comrades of ZAP, and probably kept some spare items just in case an apocalypse like this ever happened.

As Lacey curiously approached the door, Chase caught sight of her, which made his adrenaline start to race. He remembered stumbling through that door himself while helping Eddie rearrange one day before Adaru’s Awakening. Although he thankfully didn’t go through the maze, what he saw was something he never, ever wanted to see again.

“Chase!” Lacey exclaimed. “You didn’t tell me there was another room in here! Maybe there’s weapons hiding in there, and Eddie saved them for us!”

“Lacey, no!” Chase yelled as he started to run after her.

“Chase, what’s—“ Hayley started to ask.

“Hayley, whatever you do, stay out here,” Chase warned her. “I’ve got to—“ But it was too late for Chase to follow Lacey, as the door slammed shut behind her, concealing her inside.

Lacey turned around and tried to open the door, only to be a shocked with a quick jolt of electricity. She could hear a group of men chuckling behind her; when she turned again, she saw said men, dressed in sleeveless shirts, their heads wrapped with bandanas. They guarded the entrance to an unknown maze, which was constructed out of sharp, barbed wire.

Dead corpses hung from shackles on the walls like the murdered wives of Bluebeard, blood and gore seeping from open wounds in various places. A few had merely slit throats, but other corpses suffered worse fates. Intestines dangled out of a man’s open stomach carving, and amputated arms and legs hung from the ceiling, all chained up.

“Welcome… to RUN!” a booming, menacing voice yelled from above Lacey.

Lacey looked up to see her ally, Eddie Schmidt, who was standing from a platform a few feet above the maze, which was now illuminated by only blinking, bright strobe lights. His decapitated head was sewn back onto his body, and it showed from the obvious stitches connecting his head to his neck. He was being the most active she’d ever seen him, knowing him for being laid-back and collected.

He had been reanimated into someone sinister.

“Eddie!” Lacey gasped in surprise. “You’re alive? I thought Chase ended you for good!”

“That’s right, girlie!” Eddie replied as he jumped down from the platform to confront her. “I’ve realized that I belong with the Maschorians now. It’s no use to side with the rebels anymore. They just keep on suffering, you know?”

“Wait a second…” Lacey murmured to herself. _If Eddie’s head was on Chase’s belt, then someone must’ve taken it_ , she thought. _The beggar on the streets must’ve stolen it while we were all distracted with the death of ZAP! And if she knew so much about the heralds, then why would she be talking to us? I know... that bitch Lady Luck was in disguise as the beggar, and took Eddie’s head while we were all crying over their fates!_

“The rules to the maze are simple,” Eddie started. “You need to get out as quickly as you can. You gotta make choices to survive! But judging how afraid you look right now, Luck’s definitely not on your side. I had a good, long talk with her.”

“She’s isn’t your friend! She fucked you over, and you know it!” Lacey shouted.

“I know the goddamn truth now,” Eddie said angrily. “It isn’t worth fighting for my life anymore! Luck has shown me the way back to what I was best known for. Torturing the fuck out of everyone I see!” He maniacally laughed. “I’m the herald of insanity now, baby!”

“Luck is fake! You can’t believe in anything she says anymore! She’s trying to manipulate you, Eddie!”

“I’m starting the countdown,” Eddie said, a Maschorian handing him an air horn. “If you survive, we can talk about all of this later.”

Lacey’s brows furrowed. “Fine. I’ll play your game. If I survive, I want you to become our ally again! Please, Eddie! You’ve helped us, especially Tom and George.”

Eddie showed no remorse as he led her to the maze’s entrance, a wide opening in the wire. Lacey had no idea what this maze would contain, but she knew that she was ready to fight off whatever evils she could find. She had no weapons, she remembered, but she knew she could fend for herself.

“Do you think you’re ready, girl?” a Maschorian man snarled in Lacey’s ear.

“It looks like a piece of cake,” Lacey replied bravely.

Eddie and his men began chanting down from five. As each second that Lacey could’ve been saving for living ticked away, she thought of what she was about to confront. Judging by the hanging corpses and Eddie’s new rowdy nature, she realized that she was in for a rough, terrifying time. What had she gotten herself into? She knew Eddie was someone to be trusted. But could she trust him now, as this maze could reveal his true self?

The last second disappeared.

“RUN!” Eddie and his men roared, the air horn blasting.

Two of the men pushed Lacey into the maze, which made her literally run for her life. She was greeted with a claustrophobic setting, being stuck between mattresses on the walls. With the strobe teasingly flickering, Lacey had almost completely lost her sight and ability to move. She grunted as she tried to wriggle herself out of the mattresses, shuffling her feet along the floor as she tried to do so. Finally, after a minute or two, she managed to squeeze herself out.

Lacey descended into more of the chaos, this time seeing the remains of old, rotten wood, where a black, inky mutt stood. The dog had almost a whole human leg in his mouth, the skin festering from being dead for so long. The leg dropped from the dog’s mouth as he began to bark thunderously, startling Lacey with each bark. As the dog bared his sharp canines, he began to run toward her. Lacey screamed in fear as she attempted to maneuver past the mutt.

“No screaming!” Lacey could hear Eddie yell from outside the maze.

“I’m trying not to!” Lacey yelled back as she pushed back body bags that obstructed her vision. Lacey was greeted by a menacing gatekeeper in the next portion of the maze, who was standing guard to another chain link door.

“How far am I?” Lacey asked him, out of breath.

“Not even halfway!” the gatekeeper laughed, opening the door. She ran inside to see three hanging corpses covered head to toe in bloodied gauze. The smell of human decomposition filled Lacey’s nostrils, which made her want to vomit.

“This is where the maze gets tricky,” the gatekeeper said, who seemed to have shifted over to Lacey’s side. “The key to the exit of the maze is wrapped deep within the gauze of one of these bodies. If you find it, congratulations! You’ve won yourself a half chance of your survival. If you don’t, you’re good as dead! Sixty seconds, go!”

The chain link door slammed shut, trapping Lacey in the room with the bodies. At once, she began to work as the time ticked down, unwrapping the first body she saw. The stench of decay reeked even more, and this time, Lacey had no choice but to vomit in disgust on the floor and cough her brains out.

She could hear Eddie and his men laughing. Her chances of surviving this trap were becoming slimmer and slimmer, yet she couldn’t give up now. Even if she had no weapons to tear apart the gauze, she had to go on. She knew she could get herself out of this mess.

With thirty seconds remaining, Lacey quickened her pace and spent about ten seconds with each body. With the first two bodies, there was no key to be found, even if she shook the bodies out. But thankfully, finally, with the last body, the key was found in between two bandages, and stuck off almost instantly.

“Thank sweet baby Jesus,” Lacey muttered to herself in victory as she ran to the door and unlocked it. She had made it just in time, for when she passed through the threshold, the timer stopped, and all the doors shut.

The next room had walls constructed of wooden planks, which created odd structures and false pathways. Out of seemingly nowhere, another one of Eddie’s men jumped up in front of Lacey, brandishing an operating nail gun. He looked as if he was ready to strike; the nails could easily fly out and pierce the soft flesh of her face.

“I’m sparing ‘yer life this time, girlie,” the nail-gun man shouted. “Keep moving!”

As Lacey made it into the final room, she couldn’t help but pause for air. She had made it this far, and she was proud of herself. As she rested her hand against the chain link, she could hear a man suddenly come up to her and slam a baseball bat on the chain link, making her jump.

“Who told you to stop?” the man barked. “This maze ain’t over ‘til Eddie says so!”

“You mean there’s more?” Lacey asked in desperation, breathing heavily.

“Of course there’s damn more! You’re near the final room though, so I suggest running with all your might if I were you!”

Lacey ran under a torn-open awning of chain link, where all theMaschorian men from before were now bearing chainsaws of all different sizes, their blades directed towards Lacey. Lacey had no choice but to duck and run, knowing if she raised her head up just for a quick second, she’d be decapitated, just like Eddie was.

The men were spitting out curses and words of death, painful truths if she didn’t move quick enough. Lacey could hear their blades spinning closer and closer to her head, which made her inch closer and closer to the floor to the point where she had to practically crawl. This made the men laugh heartily, and their curses became more explicit.

“Shut up!” Lacey sobbed, seeing light from a distance. The exit. She was almost there.

Lacey looked to each side to see that the chainsaw men were completely gone. She rose from the floor and headed for the light, the light of freedom. She may have heard Chase and Hayley’s cries of “You can do it, Lacey!” and “Come on, it’s almost over!”, but right when she was about to step into the light, it disappeared, darkness showing again.

She turned to see Eddie handling two chainsaws, their blades stained with blood. It was just the both of them in the room, the fog the only thing that separated them.

“Eddie, you need to stop this!” Lacey shouted as he stood motionless. “What made you think that the Order was siding with you now?” He didn’t answer. “Answer me, Eddie! We all trusted you! Even though ZAP’s destroyed, we can still fight through this together! We aren’t going to let Lord Adaru and the heralds win! Do you know what the most important thing about survival is, Eddie? It’s determination, not giving up. And that’s what Tom and Uncle George would’ve wanted us to do in case they died!”

“Don’t you see that I’m dead now, Lacey?” Eddie asked her rhetorically. “Face it, all of us are dead! The heralds have Katharine, and they ain’t gonna let her loose. And now because of that, ZAP’s dead and the legions are free! There is seriously no protection out here anymore. Now, it’s just better for death to come to you instead of fighting against it. My time’s up, Lacey. I’ve been reanimated for a sole purpose, and I realize now that it was the best thing I had to do. Caine was right.”

“You’re lying! Luck is fucking with your mind right now!”

Eddie could feel the puppet master’s strings freeing him now. Now that Luck wasn’t meddling with his head again, he could access his own thoughts. He secretly believed in some of what Lacey said, but he knew he had a new goal now: to kill for the Maschorians; they needed power to thrive again. He couldn’t go and switch sides whenever he pleased. Maybe he just relapsed back into the killing; maybe this would all go away. But at this moment, his time as a rebel was over; it was time for him to serve his duty again and possibly reunite with Jack and get back his respect.

But deep down, he knew he couldn’t kill Lacey for his legion. He’d know her for a long time, since he started to help out Tom and George back in July. He wanted her and the comrades to find Katharine and bring Carey back to justice, perhaps even start an old-fashioned, bloodthirsty war. Now that was thinking as a Maschorian. But it wasn’t thinking in the way that Lord Adaru wanted him to think.

Unwillingly, he opened the door to the exit of the maze, flooding in the light again.

“I’m not gonna kill you,” Eddie told Lacey, placing his broad hands on her shoulders. “All I want is for you and the comrades to leave. Find Katharine, and end this battle. Don’t tell any of the heralds that I did this, okay? I could be in deep shit if they find out.”

“So you’re—“ Lacey attempted to ask.

“No,” Eddie replied. “I’m still not on the rebels’ side. But at the same time, I’m not on their side, either. All I’ve been told is that I have to serve the legions now, and if I don’t, you guys are gonna be the ones to blame.”

“But why—“ “Just go, Lacey!” He was being more serious now. “If you don’t leave me now, you’ll end up like me! Undead, Maschorian, war crazy, allegiant to the heralds and Adaru! They might force me to kill you!”

“Eddie, please—“

“Just go!” Eddie roared, starting to rev up one of the chainsaws. He was starting to return back to the version of himself that he secretly despised.

After she glanced at him with watery eyes, Lacey ran into the light, laughing yet sobbing at the same time. She slammed the door shut behind her, locking Eddie and his fellow Maschorians back inside of the maze. Chase and Hayley were waiting for her near an abandoned tire shop. She ran over to them without even giving herself a second to breathe.

“Lacey, you made it!” Hayley said with relief. “Chase was telling me just how bad Eddie possibly is!”

“We need to go!” Lacey sobbed, shaking. “I think Eddie might be one with the Order! He’s delusional!”

“How do you know that?” Chase asked.

“He… he was going all apeshit in that torture chamber of a maze! And then, when I saw him in that last part, his sides kept on changing! He was for the heralds, and then he was for us, and then… he let me go! He told me that if I didn’t leave him, then he would go all crazy again and possibly kill me! He’s definitely for the legions now!”

There was silence as Chase and Hayley stared behind Lacey, their faces trembling in fear. “Are those Eddie’s friends back there?” Hayley stuttered, her eyes wide.

Lacey turned to see the same five men she kept on running into while in the maze, brandishing their chainsaws once again. Only this time, in the dim, dusk light, she could see that they were transforming into something not quite humane. Their eyes were turning yellow, and their teeth were elongating, becoming sharp. Hair was covering every square inch of their bodies, sprouting from their flesh. As their heads rolled around, animal-like ears formed from the sides of their heads, and their hands were contorting into hairy, canine-like paws.

“Cerebins!” Lacey screamed. “We’re still weaponless! How are we going to fight them?”

“I snuggled some of those knives out!” Hayley told her, conveniently whipping out three of the dull knives from her pockets. “They’re still dull, but they might help!”

“We need to run!” Chase said to the two girls. “Where’s the nearest place we could go to?”

“I don’t know,” Lacey replied, “but we better start running!”

As the Maschorians turned Cerebin wolves howled at the newborn moon, the trio turned their backs and started to run the fastest they could.

 

 


	12. Me and the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase makes a difficult choice in return for the safety of Lacey and Hayley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for blood, gore, brief language, and a major character death (you will see who).

**10\. Me and the Devil**

Throughout the time when Lacey, Chase, and Katharine slain different types of undead, the Cerebins were always the ones who were harder to find. Although there were many creatures derived from Cerebin, such as Miniature Night Goblins , Orcs, and the occasional Knucklegrunt, most of them preferred prowling around at night. Oddly enough, never before had the comrades seen the classical werewolf, a man by day and a wolf by night. It was because of a shortage of wolf appearances once Adaru’s Awakening occured; the wolves were most likely killed to be used for food. Little did the wolf hunters know that the wolves were indeed Cerebin, manipulated into stealing souls by biting a human. Eddie’s men were among these hunters, bitten and transformed to become wolves at night.

Now, the trio were their prey.

They had been running from Eddie’s men-turned-wolves for about four straight minutes, and of course, they were obviously out of breath. Howling could be heard from a small distance behind them. Yet, despite being out of breath and in desperate need of water, the howling prompted them to run even faster, passing places they’ve seen already, such as the abandoned diner. A group of traveling, trick-or-treating Morphans managed to notice them; they laughed and threw jawbreakers, one which hit Chase rather hard on the head.

“You little pricks!” Chase yelled in a reaction to the pain.

“Let’s get them!” a young Morphan girl wearing a tiger mask exclaimed.

Escaping from the Cerebins became even more of a hassle for the trio now, as the Morphans decided to chase them as well. As the mix of the howling wolves and the laughing children filled the trio’s ears, Lacey started to scream in pain and hysteria. She was still shaken from surviving her experience in RUN, and the legions chasing after her only added on to her current mental state. Her speed started to decrease as her head started to ache; the laughing and howling were only growing louder. Chase and Hayley were farther than her now, almost near the Universal Palace Theater and the alleyway, where Chase hold told them to meet if they got separated.

Lacey couldn’t give up now; she had been fighting hard this past day. If she got away from the Cerebins when they were merely men, then why couldn’t she escape from them when they’re wolves? After taking a deep breath, Lacey continued to run, trying to accelerate her speed. She felt determined now, knowing that she, Chase, and Hayley could make it to the Caine manor in just an hour or so.

But suddenly, Lacey felt something claw at her ankle. She felt its fur brush against her skin, and a sharp pain entering her ankle. She stopped, forgetting the task at hand. Blood ran down her ankle in a thin river, staining her sock. When Lacey looked up, the Cerebins were completely surrounding her.

Meanwhile, Chase and Hayley were close to their target spot. “Look, there’s our alleyway!” Hayley noticed the alleyway coming closer into her vision; the Universal Palace Theater’s bright marquee lights helped her remember where the alleyway was. “We could lose the Morphans and Cerebins if we’re quick enough!”

“The question is, how are we going to lose them?” Chase asked. He turned to face Lacey, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Lacey?” Chase yelled.

He saw that the group of Morphans had stopped chasing them, and were now surrounded by something that lay in the street. Chase couldn’t tell if it was a human or perhaps one of the Cerebins that the Morphans were distracted by, so he proceeded to approach the crowd. Hayley followed him, drawing one of her smuggled dull knives from out of her pocket as a mean of protection, and maybe even as a mean of destruction.

 _Maybe I can show Chase and Lacey that I can fight just like them_ , Hayley thought to herself. _I can stab one of these Morphan kids right in the back!_

Upon closer inspection, Chase and Hayley noticed the Morphans were crowded around a twitching human, with blood leaking out of her nose. Her skin bore fresh bruises, and even a few bloody scratches that looked like they were from an animal. If this girl didn’t get on their feet to save herself in time, she could die and have her soul stolen.

This person was Lacey, and one of the Cerebin wolves was hovering over her.

“Get her!” the Morphans chanted, watching eagerly as the Cerebin made its way for Lacey’s neck.

“Chase, help me!” Chase could hear Lacey scream. He shoved some of the kids out of the way to approach her side. His sudden move didn’t save Lacey in time, as the Cerebin sank his fangs deep into Lacey’s neck. She screamed in intense pain as the wolf pulled away, leaving a deep, bloody wound in her neck.

After sliding the blade against her jeans, Hayley examined the small group of Morphans closely, noticing a boy wearing a zebra mask. She gripped onto the knife’s handle, her hand slightly trembling. She tried to recall what Katharine said while teaching knife throwing at ZAP: “Hit ‘em square in the back or heart, with nothing to lose!” Hayley’s grip got harder, until finally, she let go of her knife and watch it land right into the boy’s back.

“No, not Tommy!” the tiger-masked girl wailed, immediately noticing her friend’s downfall.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Hayley exclaimed bravely. “I killed your friend, and now he’s completely dead! Now, there’s one less soul for Adaru! Which one of you is next?”

As the Morphans were distracted by Hayley, Chase took Lacey in his arms and started his way for the alleyway. Once they reached its dead end, Chase lay Lacey down on the ground. Her blue eyes looked up at him, widened in fear. Chase could practically see the life flashing from Lacey’s eyes. He knew that Adaru was definitely doing his work now, readying Lacey’s soul to become one with the Cerebin legion.

Hayley soon made her way into the alleyway, kneeling down to help Chase examine their friend. Lacey’s wounds were almost fatal; it was definitely the wound in her neck that was slowly killing her. She had received other wounds on her knees and ankles, which thankfully were less deep. Unfortunately, Lacey was in the state between life and death; if she didn’t seek medical attention sooner or later, she could easily lose her mortality and slip into the dreaded afterlife.

“Chase,” Lacey suddenly said, looking up at Chase. “I think… I think I might be… dying.”

“Just hang in there, Lacey,” Chase told Lacey, knowing that her end was near. “Please, just hang in there. We’re going to find that manor Hayley told us about, and maybe they’ll have some medicine for you. Please, stay with me…”

“Chase,” Lacey’s eyes were filling with tears. “Chase, I don’t want to die. I want to fight.”

“I don’t want her to die,” Hayley whispered to herself. “Why do these legions think of nothing but killing the innocent? Lacey didn’t do anything except go through their stupid maze.”

Chase emerged from the ground, scooping Lacey into his arms again. He gestured toward Hayley, as if to tell her to continue moving. Hayley nodded as the trio proceeded out of the alleyway, and back onto the streets, which were now void of any legions. As she walked, Hayley kept on her sight on the Caine manor, which appeared to be miles away from where she stood.

“Hayley, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Chase muttered in frustration as he spotted the manor’s far distance. “Are you trying to tell me that we have to walk all the way to that place?”

“I… I didn’t know it was so far,” Hayley replied sheepishly. “Maybe it just looks like that. Maybe it isn’t so far after all.”

The cool night breeze surrounded the trio, as if to serve as a harbinger for a wrong choice. Hayley could feel someone’s presence behind her, somebody other than Chase. When she turned around, she noticed Lady Luck in her usual sultry nature standing behind her, a smirk on her face. Chase had also noticed, and he was not happy, remembering what had happened before.

“Why are you here?” Chase asked angrily. “Are you here to fuck up all of our chances again?”

“I am not here to harm you,” Luck said, noticing Lacey’s nearly dead body in Chase’s arms. “Rather, I am here to help you. Your companion is close to dying, and I know you seek the Caine manor.” Her voice then changed to that of the beggar woman’s. “ _She is a very intelligent woman, and you’ll never quite know when she’ll give you a subtle hint. But she can also play against your cards._ ”

“So that was you!” Hayley noticed.

“Disguising myself is one of my tactics,” Luck informed her, “of course, depending on the situation. I disguised myself to observe your progress. And so far, since we last met, it has not been improving by much. Your companion wandered through Eddie’s maze, only to make it out alive. I happened to be in her favor at that moment, letting her survive. However, Eddie was not.

“I was the one who restitched Eddie back together. Of course, Chase, you were too distracted in your sorrows from the past to notice that I had stolen Eddie’s head. He managed to escape unlife, but Adaru desperately needed his soul. Thus, we restored Eddie and let him roam free to kill again in his old dwelling. Perhaps if you were more observant, your friend wouldn’t have led the halfbreed wolfmen into your path. And, she wouldn’t have been bitten.

“You three must realize that the past is dead. What is past is merely now the prologue; now, it is only about the future. The people you once considered your friends could very well be your enemies now. That could also be reversed.” She glanced over at Chase. “I have appeared to help you, and I recommend that you take it. You wanted to get closer to the heralds, and now there is an opportunity. Dr. Caine happens to be a clever man. He was a surgeon in his past, so he may be able to help your friend.” She paused. “And who knows? I may be leading you closer to Katharine as well.”

“Katharine!” Hayley gasped to herself.

“Just remember, Chase, that although leading one into unluckiness is my preferred specialty, I am also able to lead one into luckiness as well. However, you still must take into account whether or not you want to go to the Caine manor. The heralds who reside there may or may not want to help you. There is no escape once you are among them.”

Chase started to think. Luck didn’t necessarily exist in their world now. With the unleashing of the legions and Adaru getting closer to receiving ultimate power, he knew that Luck was trying to toy with them somehow. But at the same time, she sounded sincere in her promise. She could lead them closer to mortal victory, and even closer to Katharine. He was sick of wandering through Carey’s streets to find no help whatsoever. In the Caine manor, they could be protected from the wandering legions, and all of their despairs could be solved. Was he actually relying on those he wished to kill?

Chase turned to Luck. “We’ll… we’ll take your offer. We’re only taking it to find Katharine and to cure Lacey. If any of the heralds tries to kill us upon sight, we’re out. We’re only looking for their help, that’s all.”

Luck smiled in satisfaction; she knew something that Chase and Hayley didn’t. “I hope you are aware of the risks you are about to take,” she warned. “But if you have agreed, I will escort you to the Caine manor. I only need to perform an invocation.”

“What’s that?” Hayley asked.

“I only have to say some words to transport you to the manor. Since I have been involved in the dark arts for many centuries, I have learned the art of apparition. The Caine manor is obviously far from here, but I will be able to transport you there within a matter of seconds. Do we have an agreement?”

“Certainly,” Chase replied. “I just hope the heralds don’t try to kill us.”

“We’ll just see about that,” Luck replied, taking Chase’s hand. “Now, I need you to repeat after me. _Mortuus regnum portare volumus_.”

Chase attempted to repeat Luck’s invocation, mispronouncing a few of the words. “What language is this in, Irish?” Chase asked.

“Actually, it is in Latin,” Luck answered. “I am surprised it is still in use these days. It was thought to have died ages ago. But anyway, you will need to repeat the invocation again, along with your little friend over there.” She gestured toward Hayley, who nodded in response.

As Chase and Hayley joined Luck’s recitation, they saw that the scenery among them changed. They were now in the heart of the woods, where many thin, leafless trees surrounded them and the howls of the Cerebins could be heard from far away. And there, just a few feet ahead of them, was the Caine manor.

“Did she…?” Hayley asked in excited disbelief.

“She… she actually helped us!” Chase exclaimed. “There’s the Caine manor! We’re going to find Kat, and we’re getting Lacey’s cure! Lacey, we—“ When Chase looked down at Lacey, her skin had paled and her eyes appeared lifeless.

Lacey was dead.

“No…” Chase muttered to himself. “No, she can’t be…”

“I told you to think the matter carefully,” Luck’s voice said from behind them. “Have you happened to read the story of _Faust_ , Chase? In it, a man deals with the devil to receive anything he could possibly want, in exchange for his soul. In our situation, I have brought you to the very place where you could receive help and protection from the legions. The price? Lacey’s soul.”

Chase was speechless. In that moment when he thought about the pros of finding the Caine manor, he totally forgot to think about the cons. The girl that lay in his arms, his friend, was completely ignored in favor of Luck’s charming temptation. And now, there was no going back. What’s done is done.

“You bitch!” Chase roared, starting to charge toward Luck. She dodged his attack, fading away into the night like a ghost.

“Chase!” Hayley exclaimed, running to him. “Chase, stop! I think I know a way to revive Lacey. I remember what George said about Dr. Caine! He’s Adaru’s most trusted. Maybe Adaru can send Lacey’s soul back to her body!”

“Foolish girl,” Hayley could hear Luck’s voice whisper in her ear. “Once Adaru receives her soul, it is accounted for. There’s no sending it back. She will reawaken as one of the Cerebins, but her memories of you will be replaced with animalistic urges.”

“No!” Chase yelled in extreme anger. “No, you’re lying!”

“I am definitely not lying, Chase,” Luck said, reappearing in her physical form. “You will see for yourselves very, very soon.”

She glanced over at Lacey’s body, which started to writhe violently. Lacey fell from Chase’s arms, apparently alive, and started to dig her fingers into the dirty earth. Her new teeth were growing in, as the old row of teeth fell and crashed to the ground. Her eyes were yellow like a cat’s, and her fingernails were long and sharp, just like the claws that started to jut out of her sneakers. Lacey vocalized a long howl in her transformed state, aware of the pain.

“Wait…” Luck murmured. “Where are her fur and her ears? Her transformation has stopped!”

“She’s a mutation!” Hayley noticed. “She’s half Maschorian, and half Cerebin, just like Eddie’s men from the maze!” She glared at Luck. “And you thought Lacey was going to die mortally!”

As Lacey kept scratching the ground with her claws, she looked up to see her comrades and her enemy standing there in confusion. She hissed in fear, backing into a tree. “Why is she here?” Lacey asked. Her voice was now deeper and raspier. Anything she would say from now on could be interpreted into a soft growl.

“Lacey!” Chase cried, running to hug her. “You’re safe! Do you remember me?”

Lacey growled again, perhaps as a sound of thought. “Chase Killian, twenty-one years old, and a depraved bisexual?”

“Okay, not the depraved part, but yes! You remember!”

“What happened to me?” Lacey glanced down at her claws. “Oh, shit. I’m a Cerebin. Adaru has my soul, doesn’t he? That fuck!”

“You’re a mutation now,” Hayley told Lacey. “You’re just like Eddie’s friends. You would’ve been a full werewolf, but since they were Maschorian too, you’re only part werewolf now, I guess!”

“And from the looks of it, you won’t need a cure anymore," Chase added. "You’re undead, but to us, you’re alive, and that’s all that matters right now. All we need to do is find Katharine, kick some more undead ass, and we’ll be good to go.”

“Thanks, Lady Luck!” Hayley laughed as she and her companions began to set off to the Caine manor. “You’ve helped us out quite a lot!”

“They don’t know what they’re getting into,” Luck chuckled to herself, a faint smirk growing on her face. She transformed into her hag-like, succubus form, and vanished from the woods to return to Lord Adaru’s cavernous lair, where plans for the future awaited her.

 


	13. You Oughta Be In Pictures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine becomes the star of Paolo's new film, "The Bloodshed." Little does she know that her new role comes with a devastating price.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual trigger warnings are in place, as well as hints that Paolo is a little... off than usually portrayed. Also, kudos to you if you can spot some of the HHN references in this chapter, including a cameo from a fan-favorite!

**11\. You Oughta Be In Pictures**

_October 25th, 2010. Caine Manor, 9:33 pm._

When Katharine awoke in her bedroom the following evening, she wasn’t expecting to see Paolo hovering over her bedside. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She couldn’t be scared and angry over the heralds forever. Before she turned undead, she told herself she wouldn’t pity herself and her predicament anymore. Even Julian had told her so. She had to accept that her soul, as well as her body, was dead. She said so herself in Adaru’s cavern.

“Why the hell are you in my room?” Katharine asked, surprised that she wasn’t screaming. “And what time is it?”

“Almost 9:30,” Paolo answered, “at night.” Katharine was speechless. She slept in again? “Well, don’t you know that the undead sleep during the day and wake at night?”

“Uh, yeah. That was one of the first things I learned about the undead,” Katharine replied quickly. “And besides, everyone knows that.”

“Get up,” Paolo then ordered. “I’ve got business to do, and you’re coming with me. After all, I’m the one who turned you, so technically, I’m free to do whatever I’d like with you.”

Katharine glared at Paolo as she rose from her bed. She had slept in her red ballgown, now stained with her blood. Her hair, which had been done in a bun, now was a static mess, as if electrocuted. Katharine approached the armoire and got another look at her undead self. Her yellow eyes, born from her original hazel ones, pierced into her, almost serving as another light in the room. Her cheeks were sunken in; dark circles framed her eyes. Her hair was now black, a solid ebony. And then, on her neck lay two tiny holes – bite marks.

“Like the new look?” Paolo asked her.

“Why would you think that I did?” Katharine replied, irritated that he would ask such a question.

Paolo chuckled. “Don’t worry. The undead don’t really go for looks. They go more for how they kill the victim, how they survive in their legion. There isn’t really love among the undead. That is, unless you’re a Strengoit.”

“Uh… aren’t you a Strengoit?” Katharine asked. Paolo nodded. “Then that makes me…” She was a Strengoit now, a child of the night - a vampire.

“Welcome to Strengoit,” Paolo said. “Personally, it’s my favorite out of the legions. Oh wait, is it because I’m in it?” He chuckled again. “We’re passionate, elegant, and seductive individuals. Fortuna’s in Strengoit as well, so you’ll be seeing more of her.”

 _Narcissistic freak_ , Katharine thought, rolling her eyes.

“Well, I’ll leave the servant girls to get you ready. But we haven’t got much time. My shooting was scheduled to start at 9:55, and it just so happened that you woke up right when I was about to leave. You happen to be the star of the show, you know.”

“I already knew that,” Katharine said. “But judging by the way you freaks have treated me—“

“Yes, but you are also the star of my show, too,” Paolo replied. “You’ll see what I mean once we get to the theater.”

Katharine was left to comprehend what Paolo meant as he left the room, Anya and Alice taking his place. They stripped her of the ballgown and makeup that still remained on her face, and dressed her in a black, tight jacket with silver fastenings and a long, maroon skirt. Her hair was lightly sprayed wet, brushed down to her backbone length, and finger waved.

Katharine wondered why her servant girls were practically mute as Alice applied red paint to her lips. She thought she was making good acquaintances with them, laughing and joking around with them before the trauma of last night. But now, they seemed miserable. “Guys, any reason why you’re so quiet tonight?” Katharine asked them.

No answer.

“Come on, you’re my only friends in this place!”

Again, no response, until Alice looked up from her work. “It’s nothing,” Alice said, rimming Katharine’s eyes with black. “Anya’s really scared of Paolo, which is why she isn’t saying anything.”

“Why? Did he say anything before you guys came in here?”

“He did threaten to tell Albert if we said anything to you,” Alice replied, as if it was no big deal. “So that’s why I’m quiet, too. He likes our creepy-girl façade, our submissive state. Again, can’t really bring up why we do it, since it’ll upset Anya.”

“Alice!” Anya whispered, hissing. “Don’t bring it up!” Her voice had sounded shaky, as if she was going to cry.

The girls remained silent again as they finished their work by slipping black pantyhose and knee-high boots on Katharine. After Anya brushed back Katharine’s hair one last time, the two servants scurried out of the room like scared rats without saying goodbye to her.

Katharine fluffed out her skirt and walked out of her bedroom, to see Paolo waiting outside in the hallway, holding his camera. “So, you said you’re shooting a movie?” Katharine asked him as they made their way downstairs.

“Yes,” he replied. “For your information, the plot is rather simple. It is about how death can succumb us in all different ways, whether it be through torture or other means. I call it… The Bloodshed.”

“That’s pretty deep,” Katharine said. “Sounds like this one obscure horror movie I watched a while back. The only thing was that it was silent and I couldn’t even make out the message. That, and it was totally black and white. I forgot the name of it, but it reminds me of the type of stuff you make.”

“I find it pretty amusing how you’re joking on the subject matter of my film when you just died earlier,” Paolo told Katharine as they made their way out of the manor. “You haven’t even seen any of my films! But soon, you will know true cinema. And to add to your statement, the film you’re referring to is called _Begotten_. It was rather interesting, actually.”

It was Katharine’s first time outside since the heralds kidnapped her; the cool night breeze was actually comforting. She noticed the manor was located deep within the woods, leafless trees of all different heights surrounding it. It was perfect for a horror movie scene, and in Katharine’s case, she was now living in one.

As Paolo led Katharine to the back of the manor, she noticed skeletons and bones scattered around, discarded to rot into the earth forever. An inky black mutt sniffing over the bones really caught Katharine’s attention, especially the scrap of bloodied flesh in his teeth.

“Caine must’ve fed him,” Katharine heard Paolo mutter as they passed the dog. The dog lifted its head up from the bones and stared at Katharine with its abnormal red eyes. It dropped its fleshy chew toy and ran up to Katharine’s ankles, barking loudly and trying to jump on top of her.

“What a cute little dog!” Katharine found herself saying. “What is it, a vampire dog or something?”

“Close,” Paolo replied. “The dog doesn’t have a name yet. Caine found him somewhere in the western part of town. He must be a mutation dog. Half Cerebin, half Strengoit. It’s possible.”

“It is?” Katharine asked. “You could be in half a legion, and half of another one?”

Paolo glared at her. “Forget I even said that.”

They made their way to Paolo’s car, a black 1998 Porsche . As she made her way inside, Katharine noticed that this could be a great potential escape method. Yet she hadn’t driven in months, when she was confined to ZAP’s base to train the newbies. By the time business was done, she was too exhausted to drive out and do something for herself. That, and the missions all around town ate up her time. She couldn’t just go to Milly’s with a bunch of zombie guts all over her!

“I know what you’re thinking, Katharine,” Paolo said as he pulled out. “My car would aid you in your escape. Well, I’m telling you now, you can forget that. If any of us find out you’re gone, we’ll get Adaru to strip you of your immortality so you can rot away as a ghoul. Oh, wait. Adaru would already know if you’re out of our grasp!”

“Damn, you caught me,” Katharine said sarcastically. “I haven’t driven in a long time, actually. Zombie hunting’s been taking up practically my whole social life. I’ve got a boyfriend, though. We occasionally went out.”

“More like you _had_ a boyfriend.”

Katharine glared at Paolo. “I know he’s still alive somewhere. Don’t give me false hope just yet.”

The road trip to whichever theater was a bumpy, jolting ride – at least the part when they left the Caine manor, in which Paolo drove on a downward slope of a pathway. As Paolo drove along the countryside road, the Caine manor became more and more out of sight. It was almost relaxing to Katharine, her prison out of reach. Yet she had no idea which part of Carey she was in, if she was even close to Carey.

Since phone service was down since the beginning of September, Katharine had nothing in the car to occupy her, her iPhone locked away at home anyway. She spent the trip staring out of the window while Paolo was playing some type of aged horror movie broadcast on the radio.

“Now then, boys and ghouls,” a man with a horrible Dracula-like accent said over the airwaves, “this next feature is one of my favorites! It’s about boy meets ghoul, but the boy discovers that his ghoul isn’t all that she seems to be… it’s Valentine’s Day 2: The Recurrence!”

“That damn Morphan is never going to get a career,” Paolo muttered. He switched the station to one that played “Sweet Dreams” by Marilyn Manson. "Those damn Maschorian punks that took over the radio station have barely any taste in music..."

Katharine sang along in her head as she continued to stare out of the window, noticing places she’d only heard of before. Aiello and Mannarino Clothiers, the Meetz Meats meat factory, WKNB Station, home of the H.R. Bloodengutz Show. So the Caine manor was somewhere close to Carey, the urban part Chase dubbed as 'Deadtropolis'. She and the comrades never casually frequented this area unless Tom instructed them to complete a mission here.

Eventually, the car and the music stopped. As Katharine got herself out of the car, she got a good look at the theater Paolo kept referring to. It appeared rather aged, with a vintage Art-Deco design colored with maroon, gold, and a muted green. The marquee bore only horror movie titles: _The Wolfman_ , _Bride of Frankenstein_ , _The Phantom of the Opera_. From the side, she could see the ticket booth, and in it stood a familiar usher who turned to face Katharine the moment she shut the door.

Then she remembered. This was the Universal Palace Theater, and the usher in the ticket booth was Julian Browning. This was the area of her last battle, her last mission… and one of her last moments with Chase and Lacey. “We’ve got no time for reminiscing,” Paolo told Katharine, tightly holding her wrist to lead her to the theater. “I’m already running behind schedule and my actors have probably been waiting hours!”

 _Remember what Julian said_ , Katharine thought. _Once you’re dead, nothing of the past will matter anymore._

They passed Julian’s ticket booth without stopping and walked right inside. Katharine remembered its layout, with the black gate leading to Adaru’s cavern somewhere near the concession stand, where she had met Jay, who kept ahold of one of Julian’s keys. She witnessed his unusual turning, when Julian, a Kerezan, used the Strengoit method instead. Thankfully, Jay didn’t look that different as a Kerezan. His dark skin was merely a few tones lighter, and his eyes were yellow like Katharine’s. But once Katharine’s eyes lowered down to the area of his mouth, she noticed something eerie, bloody, and disturbing. The sides of his cheeks were ripped open a few inches, exposing the side of his teeth. He looked like he was suffering through this permanent smile, never being able to close his mouth.

A Glasgow grin.

“Don’t tell me that’s Julian’s work,” she said, horrified.

“Oh, Julian wouldn’t do something like that,” Paolo answered, smiling. “It was actually _my_ work.”

Katharine gasped in horror. “What did he do for that grin?”

“Julian let him be in a scene for my film. A few years ago, I made a film entitled _Clowns Are Always Laughing on the Outside but Crying on the Inside, So Let’s See_ , in which I had a court jester smile for me through fish hooks. It was quite symbolic… showed the struggles he was going through while he was always portraying a happy jokester. So for my new film, I wanted to show that same scene, but through a depressed Kerezan. Needless to say, it was perfection. He looks even deader now, wouldn’t you say?”

"You’re sick,” Katharine hissed in anger, her fists clenching. “He did absolutely nothing to you, and you had to go and do that?”

“Again, Julian’s idea,” Paolo reminded her. “Supposedly, young Jay insulted his lady… and to let you know, Julian’s lady happens to be the theater _it_ self. But Julian can’t hear me, can he? That man is delusional when it comes to love. Now come on, my actors are waiting.”

Katharine gave a sad glance toward Jay as she followed Paolo to one of the screening rooms. The screen was pulled back to the ceiling, revealing the Palace’s remnants of its opera house days – ropes, sandbags, even a catwalk above. There still was a stage, where three torture devices stood; three actors were in one each, pleading for help the moment they saw Katharine.

“They’re just acting,” Paolo told her as they made their way down to the front row. “They really got into their roles, didn’t they? Method acting seems to work with all of my films.”

“Doesn’t look like it to me,” Katharine snarled. She knew that they were obviously in need of help, begging for freedom from the Strengoit madman.

One of the victims, a young woman facing her death in an iron maiden looked pleadingly at Katharine. Her mouth was tightly covered with a scrap of cloth, muffling her cries. Katharine knew her from somewhere, sometime before Adaru’s Awakening. The other two victims were young men. One was actually suspended in the air with one of the old ropes tied around his waist, his arms extended out like a bird’s wings. He even wore a suit of black tattered feathers, as if trying to symbolize something unclear to Katharine. The last victim was in an electric chair, restrained by his wrists and ankles.

“Now, Katharine, your role…” Paolo began to say. “You are a vampire out for blood. But, you’ve decided that the simple bite of the neck wouldn’t do you any good. You want to be creative with your kills! You see your three fellow actors in the traps of my choosing… with some input from Julian, but he’s not the creative director here. First, we’ve got Amanda in the iron maiden. You’ve researched all different types of torture devices, and the iron maiden interested you first… old, yet useful. Then, you’ve got Tyler dressed in my version of the fallen angel. Humiliation is one of my favorite tactics for my films, so I do it by dressing my actors in costumes. Are you keeping up, Katharine?”

“I’m trying,” she replied through gritted teeth.

“And last but not least, we have David in the electric chair. Julian wouldn’t let me bring a bathtub into the theater, so the chair had to do. It was a last minute decision.”

“Are you ready for your film debut, Katharine?” a woman’s husky voice whispered in Katharine’s ear. “Paolo’s been planning it for quite a while now.” Katharine turned to see Lady Luck behind her, smiling devilishly. “You’re going to need blood to survive now, you know. After all, we Strengoit are derived from the vampires.”

Katharine realized she had no choice but to play along and actually kill these suffering people. She couldn’t take the heralds’ torture anymore. Who knows, they might even reward her with something if she showed that she finally crumbled. But if she kept on being submissive to them, they would keep on stealing her fear and laugh at her suffering. She had to rebel again, somehow.

“Remember, Katharine, this isn’t just for your needs,” Paolo said. “This is also for Lord Adaru. He needs souls, remember? Now that you’re in the ranks, you have to obey his orders and help him claim his power.”

“We want Strengoit to be his most desired legion,” Luck added. “Come on, killing your first victim for blood isn’t hard. It’s more of an adventure!”

Paolo and Luck’s words of persuasion, and the screams and cries of the victims flooded Katharine’s mind like a maelstrom, ringing in her ears and causing her to sweat. She knew she wasn’t going to kill these people for the demon, and drinking blood was definitely out of the question.

Just then, a deep voice spoke in Katharine’s mind.

“Do it,” the voice said. “I need their fear.”

“Everybody just…” Katharine uttered. The screams and persuasions were growing more intense. “Everybody… just… _shut up_!”


	14. The Director's Cut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine is manipulated into giving Paolo what he needs for his new film.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual trigger warnings are in place. Also, Paolo's creepiness level has increased in this! Enjoy... I guess.

**12\. The Director's Cut**

The pleads and persuasions stopped when Katharine raised her voice in frustration.

“You want me to kill these people for your movie?” Katharine asked, her blood boiling. “You want to film me to go out and show that by taking me away will make me want to kill people and be submissive to those that think they're higher power? What type of fucking vision is that?”

“ _Katharine._ ” The deep voice in her head returned, almost growling at her now. “ _Listen to me. Kill them. They will make you stronger. You are not their savior anymore. You belong to me and my heralds now. Kill for us!_ ”

“Shut up!” Katharine shrieked, covering her ears. “You mean nothing to me!”

“ _How wrong you are. In fact, I believe I mean more to you than anybody else now._ ”

Katharine looked up to Luck and Paolo through angry eyes, completely unsure of what to do. Paolo just sat, filming away, while Luck watched her with a hungry eagerness.

“Katharine…” the female victim’s voice wailed. The cloth had fallen off her mouth, allowing her to speak clearly. “Katharine, don’t you remember me from school? I’m Amanda Harper, from senior year English class! Your friend before you went off with Lacey Broussard!”

Katharine’s eyes widened as regret shot through her heart. She remembered Amanda fondly. They were best friends, almost inseparable through their love of horror movies. Amanda had even helped with distributing zombie awareness pamphlets at school, believing in the Romeros’ cause that mostly everybody else mocked and bullied Katharine about. In a way, Amanda was ZAP’s publicist before Adaru’s Awakening.

Tyler, the fallen angel was the next to speak. “I may have bullied you for believing in zombies, but I’m so sorry, Katharine! Just get me out of here and I’ll even join your zombie program! I was just a stupid jock trying to impress my friends! I really have an interest in helping Carey!”

“ZAP is dead,” Katharine said bitterly. Something, or in her case, _someone_ was taking over her mind.

David had no words. He just sobbed, banging his hands on the armrests of the electric chair. Katharine remembered him, too. He, like Tyler, was a class clown, never shutting up with his stupid pop culture jokes. He would sometimes go out of the way to make cruel jokes directed toward Katharine about zombies wanting to do horrible things to her, more than just eat her. Despite shrugging off the jokes with a laugh, she never got the jokes out of her head.

“Do you notice a trend here, Katharine?” Paolo asked from the audience. “My actors are just some of the people who beat you down in the past!”

“He chose them for some extra motivation,” Luck added. “If we hired people you didn’t like, you’d kill them more easily.”

“I never disliked any of these people!” Katharine cried, holding back her sobs of regret as a burning pain entered her head. “Well, except for David.” She started to walk toward him, feeling some sense of power take over her. “You know what? I think I’ll kill him first!”

“ _That’s it,_ ” Lord Adaru said tauntingly in Katharine’s head. “ _You will give this mortal what he deserves._ _I need his soul._ "

Katharine paused in front of the electric chair, her hands trembling as they met the switch. “Fear’s taking control of me...” Her body starting to tense up. “He wants me to kill…”

“She’s grasping it,” Luck told Paolo as he positioned his camera in excitement.

“He wants their souls! He wants _me_!" The burning sensation in Katharine's head throbbed, her eyes criss-crossing as she started to feel woozy.

“Here comes the good part,” Paolo remarked. “I know exactly what Adaru’s doing right now.”

“HE’S TAKING CONTROL OF ME!” Katharine screamed. She began to pull on her long hair as the pain of Adaru’s possession took over her body, making it feel as if she was on fire. Her eyes began to burn; Luck and Paolo could see them rolling into the back of her head, revealing only the whites. When her eyes rolled back, they were colorless. Her head was rolling in circular motions as Fear struggled to reach inside her , until finally, she was no longer Katharine.

She was Fear incarnate.

Now possessed by Fear, Katharine sped to the electric chair and switched it on, ignoring David’s screams. His body flailed crazily as the sparks shot through him, the electric current racing through. His eyes shot out blood, his skin singing and becoming charred. Amanda and Tyler were now trying to free themselves of their traps; David’s death was already too much for them to watch.

“ _You aren’t going anywhere, fallen angel,_ ” Lord Adaru’s voice spoke through Katharine, noticing Tyler’s struggle. “ _Let us see your final flight!_ ”

Tyler was trying to wriggle out of the rope hoisted at his waist. Since his strength was strong from the time he was a jock, he managed to get the rope to reach just above his shoulders. But as the rope was nearing the end, the amount of free space Tyler had was reaching its limit. By the time the rope was around his neck, the rope stopped, his neck too big to slip through. He was going to die somehow; suffocation, or worse.

“Do something, Katharine!” Paolo yelled. “The film is starting to run out!”

She rushed over to Tyler’s side. “ _Let this be the end of your suffering,_ ” Katharine-as-Fear taunted, snapping his neck with her own two hands.

Meanwhile, Amanda remained stuck in the iron maiden, the needles inches away from her skin. Her face was soaked with tears; two of her fellow classmates were now dead, and another became insane. When she saw Katharine saunter over to the iron maiden with a wide, eerie grin on her face, the tears continued. Here was the friend who left her, the friend she vowed she couldn’t trust ever again. She couldn’t definitely trust her now.

“Katharine, no!” Amanda screamed. “Just let me go! I’m begging you!”

“ _But I want your blood,_ ” Katharine-as-Fear replied. “ _I want_ all _of it._ ”

Katharine-as-Fear took hold of Amanda’s head and tilted her neck toward her mouth. She proceeded to ravenously bite into her neck, which sprayed blood all over Katharine’s blouse. She sucked up the blood like sucking soda from a straw, the blood filling her mouth with a sweet taste. Once she had gotten her portion, she stepped back and shut the now catatonic Amanda into the iron maiden, the needles puncturing the rest of her blood out of her.

“ _You have served me well, Katharine,_ ” Lord Adaru’s voice said in Katharine’s head. “ _Now, their souls are mine!_ ”

With that, Adaru’s soul slithered out of her body, her eyes back to yellow and the burning sensation gone. She was the angry, timid Katharine again, who unwillingly performed the task of killing the people from her past. She glanced over at the now dead bodies of Tyler and David; Tyler still hung on his noose, and David was still smoking, the electric chair burnt him.

Katharine opened the door to the iron maiden and saw her former friend drained of her blood, a huge puddle forming from underneath. Her two bite wounds still dripped blood; Katharine had no choice but to approach her former friend’s corpse and lick the rest of the remaining blood off of her. When Katharine moved her eyes to look up at Amanda’s frozen face, she started to sob. “What have I done?” She leaned her head against Amanda’s shoulder. “What the fuck have I done? I’m becoming… what they want me to be…” She closed the door to the iron maiden and looked back to Paolo and Lady Luck, who were in awe of her “performance”.

“Katharine!” Luck crooned, rising from her seat to embrace Katharine on the stage. “What an emotional performance! Well, Lord Adaru helped you out, but it was for the best! And Paolo has it all filmed for the rest of the heralds to enjoy!”

Paolo joined Luck and Katharine onstage, where he nearly shoved Luck away to approach Katharine in a surprisingly sentimental manner. “Katharine,” he whispered, getting very close to her face, “you were perfect. It was just what I had envisioned for the role… and my vision.”

“Fuck your visions,” Katharine said through gritted teeth. “This is probably going to be the only time I ever—“

Paolo shut Katharine up by fiercely kissing her lips in a way where she couldn’t escape from him. Feeling a slight pinch of the burning sensation that rose inside of her when Adaru possessed her, Katharine had no choice but to play along and accept his kiss.

“Paolo, what do you think you’re doing?” Luck asked angrily, almost in a growl. “You’re mine, not hers!”

But Paolo wouldn’t stop. His hands were starting to roam all over Katharine’s body, until his fingers found a button on her blouse.

“GET OFF OF HER!” Luck growled loudly, ripping Paolo off from Katharine. Paolo turned to see that his beloved turned into her ugly succubus form, her face scrunched up and her teeth sharp and short. Her claw-like fingernails scratched his left cheek, which immediately started to bleed.

“Fortuna, I am so sorry…” Paolo said quickly, realizing immediately what he did.

“Don’t you remember that we’re mates?” Luck growled. “That we are destined never to break apart from each other? You’re kissing the girl like she’s a common street whore!”

“Hey!” Katharine shouted, trying to intervene. “He was the one that latched onto me in the first place! Don’t go blaming me on—“

Paolo went up to Katharine and slapped her hard in the face. “You’re the one that bewitched me into kissing you! Fucking Strengoit charms… we should’ve turned you into a pathetic Cerebin dog and let you wander off into the streets yourself, to get eaten up by a Kerezan!”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have fucking kidnapped me in the first place! Better yet, you should’ve never fucking intervened with ZAP!”

“We had to!” Luck replied, her fingernails ready to scratch Katharine as well. “Lord Adaru has worked hard and long enough to usurp the world with fear, and your program was obstructing him from finally doing so!”

“Wanna know what I think of Lord Adaru, bitch?” Katharine asked, heading toward Luck as if she was about to strike her. “He, along with you and your crazy filmmaker boyfriend, can burn in hell for as long as time itself!”

“Paolo, you might as well retrieve Zlata,” Luck said. “We’re about to shoot a new scene, in which I am the star.” Paolo went into the house to retrieve said camera, then returned onstage and prepared it for the scene. “Action!” he shouted.

Luck brought Katharine close to her. “This is what happens when you insult our master,” she said. She then proceeded to deeply scratch Katharine’s face with her daggers, which quickly oozed with blood. She even ripped off Katharine’s blouse, exposing only her breasts, which Katharine covered with her hands. But Luck moved her hands out of the way and started to scratch her chest area too.

As Katharine screamed in pain, she knew she needed someone to alert, and fast. She was in the Universal Palace; who could she possibly scream for? She didn’t know the names of any of the ushers or usherettes, and Jay was probably now unable to speak. There was only one person she knew by name who worked here, someone she didn’t know she could trust.

Before she could open her mouth to scream his name, the doors of the screening room opened, flooding in light from the lobby. An usher immediately came rushing down the hallways, walked onstage, and tore Luck away from Katharine. Katharine turned to face the person who had saved her. “Julian?” she whispered in disbelief.

“You two,” Julian started, glaring toward Paolo and Luck, “out of my theater. Now.” “But we—“Paolo tried to say. “I do not want to hear a single thing about the shooting of your… pornographic films,” Julian continued. “I am sick and tired of you shooting your… your… I cannot even call them films. You ruin the sacred art of film! And I will not allow it within my lady’s rooms any longer!”

“Don’t you remember Adaru’s purpose for us, Julian?” Paolo asked incredulously, pressing Luck to his side. “We must kill every human for their soul in order for him to be revealed.”

“But these are different matters,” Julian replied. “You kill just to kill, without the slightest real thought as to why they deserve death.”

“Does sacrifice ring a bell to you?”

“Even sacrifice involves thought. I will speak of this matter no longer. _Get out of my theater._ ”

“We will speak later, Julian,” Luck said coldly as she and Paolo walked offstage.

As Katharine started to get up and follow her fellow Strengoits, Julian stopped her. “Katharine, you stay,” he said, without the most subtle trace of malice in his voice.

Still covering her breasts, Katharine rose as Julian proceeded to take off his usher’s jacket and cloak it over her bare torso. When she tried to put it on, he noticed her deep, bloody wounds. “You’re hurt,” he said softly.

“I need the—“Katharine tried answering.

“No.” He approached David’s body and ripped the shirt off of him, being careful not to shock himself. He handed the shirt to Katharine to use as a rag of sorts. She took it and started to clean herself as much as she could, trying to lick some blood for her fill. Once she was done, she covered herself with Julian’s jacket, which cooled her body off from the burning sensation of her possession.

“Katharine,” Paolo spoke from the doors, “you do know you’re returning to the Caine manor, right?”

Katharine caught a look in Julian’s eyes that made him look like he wanted her to stay in the theater. Perhaps it would be safer, away from Paolo and Luck, but she knew it wouldn’t be wise to trust someone who ruined her career and suddenly protected her because his theater was being disrespected. She knew she couldn’t trust any of the heralds yet, especially Julian. “I’m sorry, Julian,” Katharine whispered. “I’d like to stay, but I have to go back.”

Katharine then started to take off the jacket, but Julian stopped her. “You can keep it, if you wish. I always have spares.”

Katharine mouthed a single ‘thank you’, and walked offstage to follow Paolo and Luck back to her new life of seclusion and depression. As Katharine neared Paolo, he grabbed her wrist tightly, with more force than before. “I don’t want you trusting him,” he snarled in her ear as they walked back into the night. “Nor do I want you going around defending those zombie _freaks_ that you used to kill all the time. Kerezans are worthless of your time, Katharine. Trust me, by the time Adaru is revealed, all of them will be eradicated.”

“All of you aren’t worth my time,” Katharine mumbled to herself as she followed Paolo and Luck back to the Porsche.

As Katharine was shoved into the backseat, Luck watched with a satisfied smile on her face, knowing her power of bad fates was increasing her power. “I know what you’re thinking right now, Katharine,” Luck said coolly as the Universal Palace became out of view. “You made the wrong decision. Well, I am sorry to tell you this, but I wasn’t even involved with your choice this time around. I can only lead you to them now.”

Katharine glared angrily as she tried to forget everything that happened to her, secretly regretting her choice to not stay in the theater.

 


	15. Children of the Revolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lacey, Chase, and Hayley meet Anya and Alice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual trigger warnings are in effect, although there is no blood or gore in this chapter. Also, it's dialogue and exposition heavy regarding Anya and Alice, so be prepared! (Like there are no HHN characters in this chapter whatsoever.)

**13\. Children of the Revolution**

The Caine manor loomed over the trio, beckoning them inside. It had aged with time, the once pearly white walls now yellowing from the rain. Since it lay in the middle of the woods, there were vines that twisted like snakes over the columns that stood above the entrance. The trio didn’t know this manor’s backstory, nor of the ghoulish activities that occurred behind its doors. They didn’t know they were about to step into one of the most dangerous places of Carey. This is where the undead dwelled freely before Adaru's Awakening.

“I’ve heard Kat talk about this place before,” Hayley said timidly as Chase approached the double doors. “She called this place the Screamhouse, the Manor of Lost Souls. This is where the ghosts of the past are free to roam. Rumor even says this place was a funeral home once, where Dr. Albert Caine would perform his deadly experiments upon the living! I’m scared, Chase!”

“Chillax, Hayley,” Lacey growled as she attempted to stand on two feet. “We’ve seen this Albert Caine person before. He didn’t look that crazy.”

Before Chase could even knock the door, it slowly opened, the strong stench of decay immediately filling the trio’s nostrils. A young girl around Hayley’s age appeared behind the door, her face stained with ashes and her blonde hair frizzy behind her head covering. She wore the clothes of one of the manor’s loyal servants, but her eyes were filled with fear.

“Who are you?” the maid whispered.

“Are you a servant of Dr. Caine’s?” Chase asked cautiously, having no idea as to whose side the maid was on.

“Yes,” the maid replied, her voice unusually high-pitched. “What are your names? Was Dr. Caine expecting your arrival?”

“I don’t think so,” Hayley answered. “Lady Luck helped us get here, and she kept on warning us that we’d be taking risks. My name’s Hayley, by the way.” Hayley then gestured towards Chase and Lacey. “This is Chase, and the half-ish wolfgirl is Lacey. We’re rebels, but we’re only looking for Dr. Caine’s help to cure Lacey and to find my sister, Katharine.”

The maid gasped quietly, familiar with Katharine’s name. “Come with me to the cellar. My sister and I want to discuss some things with you. We have to be quick, though, as Dr. Caine is definitely not kind to trespassers. Oh, and my name is Anya.”

Anya led the trio to the Caine manor’s cellar, which was located directly behind it. Lacey had taken an interest in walking on her hands and feet like a wolf, which Chase tried not to laugh at. Once they reached the cellar, Anya guided the trio down the ladder and into the underground, where her sister started to light some lanterns with what appeared to be just her hands. Anya moved a few wine barrels out of the way so that the trio could sit on the floor.

“You’re finally here!” Anya’s sister exclaimed, smiling in relief once she took notice of the trio. “We’ve been waiting for you guys for a long, long time. We’ve got plans to leave this hellhole, but we needed the right people to execute them.”

“Try to pardon Alice’s excitement,” Anya told the trio, now speaking in a regular pitch. “She likes it when new people show up, especially when she thinks they’re going to help us escape. Since you guys are from ZAP, we’ve got a good feeling.”

“You guys look like hell,” Alice noticed, shaking her head. “I’m guessing you’ve been on the road for a bit.”

“More like the undead infested streets of Carey,” Chase said. “We’ve had a lot happen to us since ZAP got overthrown. One of our friends got turned into an enemy, we pretty much got forced into doing a deal with Lady Luck…”

“I almost died,” Lacey added. “Well, uh… I sort of did. I got bit by some mutated wolfmen.”

“Damn, I’m sorry,” Alice said sympathetically. “I don’t know if you can tell, but we got forced into becoming Morphans a while back.” As Alice said this, Anya started to squirm in her stance, as if this was a subject not worth bringing up. “You see, our story goes back a bit. Our parents were scientists, wanting to do research about zombie genetics and whatnot. They kept their information a total secret from us, until we found out…”

“That we can control fire and ice,” Anya continued. “It came as a shock to us, but there were signs, like when Alice got frequent fevers, and I kept on getting chills in the summer months. It turned out that our parents were doing research on how a human can receive powers of the supernatural.”

“Huh, that’s neat,” Lacey commented. “Better than being half-wolf, I’d say.”

“California was hell for us,” Alice added. “We kept on getting bullied in school because our powers sometimes got the best of us in class. So, we came here to Carey, since we found out that the supernatural is pretty much accepted here. Like really, this town is so used to ghosts and stuff that they don’t bat an eye to them. So, when we were getting settled, Albert found out about us.

“He thought our parents were competition to him. Albert’s a scientist too, sort of, since he wants to find how exactly humans reawaken after death. So, one day, when we returned from school, we found that our house was burnt entirely to the ground. Nothing remained, and our parents were dead. Then, the worse of it happened… and unfortunately, that’s as far as I’ll go.”

“And then you two became this place’s servants?” Hayley asked.

“Right,” Anya said. “I can prove my powers to you, if you want.” She placed a wine barrel in front of her, and after she took off her gloves, she placed a fingertip upon the barrel. At once, small fractals of ice started to form on the ridge of the barrel, and after a minute, it became a solid row of ice.

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Hayley exclaimed in wonder. “It’s terrible that you had to keep that a secret for so long.”

“Well, it’s helped out at home a bit,” Anya said, a slight laugh in her voice. “It’s a bit obvious as to why Alice can’t show her powers.”

“Unless we can have a campfire or something,” Alice replied. “Or better yet, we can burn some leaves. But anyway, that isn’t important right now. Anya and I wanted to tell you guys about our plans to overthrow the undead society. Since we’ve been stuck here for a while now, we’ve been able to overhear the heralds’ plans to fully vanquish the living, and I think we’ve found a way that we could stop them.”

Anya cleared her throat before she began to explain. “Back in 2006, all the zombies and ghosts flocked here, as well as the heralds themselves . No one really knows why Carey got hit instead of say, like, Los Angeles or something, but we’ve heard it’s because Lord Adaru wanted to strike a smaller town, one that wasn’t really known. This town has all sorts of abandoned places, where the undead could thrive without anyone really knowing. But, there were places where mortals thrived that the dead wanted to as well.”

“The mortals didn’t know how to react to them,” Alice continued. “They all thought that zombies and ghosts were fictional to some extent, that the dead really couldn’t be resurrected. But, Lord Adaru had, and still has the power of necromancy, bringing the dead back to life. He just hasn’t shown the power until recently, since he’s sort of lazy. Really, though, he’s waiting for the right time to strike.”

“A lot of people were impacted,” Anya added. “More businesses shut down, more people moved out. Carey was a literal ghost town, as people feared this place because the undead would soon reign. There was this guy that used to roam around, a crazy dude, who would always shout about how the undead would take over the world. Of course, no one took him seriously. Now, look what happened.”

The trio remained silent as they took in the servants’ information. Now, they knew how the madness started and thrived, and it was all because of Lord Adaru. They knew the mortals fought the dead before, and died in vain protecting their beloved town. Everyone in the cellar was the next generation of the survivors of the First Undead War , and had to carry out the mission that never quite ended.

“You said you had a plan to stop the heralds,” Chase recalled. “Now that we know how they came to power, and what Lord Adaru really wants, how do we stop them?”

“It’s simple, really,” Anya replied. “We become what we’ve already been: rebels. We overheard at a dinner some nights ago that on Halloween, Adaru is planning to begin the Second Undead War. He thinks this is when all of Carey will be dead, but as a last resort, he’s going to unleash the souls he claimed, but in undead beings. They’re a part of his legions now, being mind-controlled like robots.”

“That’s bullshit!” Lacey growled, banging her fist onto the ground in anger. “He’s such a narcissistic asshole! My mother died from a Kerezan bite, and now, I might have to kill her for good?”

“But it would end her suffering,” Hayley intervened. “Once she’s really dead, she’ll be free to ascend to Heaven, just like George… and Dad… and Katharine.” Hayley began weeping. “I’m sorry. I really have to let them go. They’re dead now, and they aren’t coming back.”

“Oh, we almost forgot about Katharine!” Alice suddenly exclaimed. The trio snapped back to attention.

“Is she here?” Chase asked excitedly, the first time he was actually in a positive mood in a while.

“She… is, sort of,” Anya replied, fidgeting. “You see, Katharine…uh…became one with the Strengoit legion last night. So, she is undead now, and she did not take the news lightly, at all.”

“At least she’s undead,” Alice said reassuringly. “She’s alive, but a little more dangerous now that she’s a vampire. We were talking to her while getting her ready for her transformation party last night. She still remembers ZAP, and all of you, and she hasn’t lost hope just yet. Katharine isn’t letting the heralds take over her mind.”

“Thank God,” Chase sighed in relief. “Thank God she’s alive.” He brought Hayley closer to him and hugged her as she sobbed, knowing that her sister was still alive, but prowling around as a child of the night. Even Lacey was brought in for an embrace, as Katharine was the one that saved her and helped her through dark times, even though they had strained pasts.

“Katharine’s a big part of our plan,” Anya said once everyone calmed down. “In fact, she’s our inspiration behind it. We’ve all heard the heralds going on about how Katharine is a fighter, a rebel who wants all the undead… well, dead. The truth is that we want the undead gone just as much as her, even though we’re undead ourselves.”

“It wasn’t our choice,” Alice and Lacey accidentally said in unison. When they realized they had the same thought on their minds, they chuckled.

“The heralds are making all of us suffer,” Anya continued. “They made Alice suffer, they made me suffer…” She paused, trying to stop herself from the terrible occurrence on her mind. “That’s their goal, to make everyone suffer until they succumb to them. They’re doing it for Adaru, so he gets all his power.”

“Adaru’s always going on about his prophecies and his visions,” Alice added, “so why can’t we have our own visions and thoughts as well? That’s why we’re the Children of the Revolution. We’re going to stop the heralds from strengthening their power, and the same regarding Adaru and Lady Luck. They’re trying to make the world a huge war zone, one baby step at a time. We have to stop them now before everything gets worse.”

“But how?” Chase questioned.

Alice sighed in uncertainty. “You see, you guys just came here. We’ve been waiting for more help, and now, we’ve finally gotten it. We knew the rebels from ZAP would make their way here soon enough.” Alice smiled as she said this. Since being a servant in the Caine manor, she had suffered so much abuse, so much heartbreak that it was a daily thing for her. Hearing the stories about ZAP and the rebels put her mind at ease, trying to forget all the pain.

“Okay, we’re all in for it,” Lacey replied, the thought of ZAP helping the servants unanimous. “We’re going to need a good, strategic plan as to how we’re going to remind the heralds that their asses are getting kicked.”

“Well…” Anya began to think. She was the shyest sister, but also the more thoughtful one, daydreaming when not busy with manor tasks. Anya dreamt of a better future, one where the undead wouldn’t reign and her powers could help those who needed it. “The heralds don’t know you’re here, right?”

“I hope not,” Hayley said while shrugging, “but Lady Luck knows. She led us here.”

“They’ll probably be notified, then,” Alice said, “Lady Luck tells them absolutely everything she comes across. I mean, I know she’s the goddess of unluckiness or whatever, but she’s so nosy. In fact, she’s probably listening to us right now, making sure our plans go haywire.”

“I have an idea,” Anya intervened. “Dr. Caine likes to hold lavish balls almost every day of the week. The man’s delusional; he brings out fresh corpses and pretends they’re dinner guests, and then he, Cindy, and his followers get all dressed up and dance with them! Sometimes, he even invites his fellow heralds, and they’re totally in on it!” She paused, and then added sadly, “Katharine’s already been dragged to one, her transformation party. There’s supposed to be one on Wednesday, and it’s being held in Lord Adaru’s honor. He’s visiting the manor that day.”

“Whenever Lord Adaru visits, Dr. Caine’s parties are really huge,” Alice added, “like, he can fit two whole legions in his ballroom . We’re thinking that Katharine’s going to be presented in some embarrassing way or another, and although we’re just servants, we can’t let that happen to her.”

“So here’s what we’re thinking,” Anya continued. “During that ball, we’re going to stage what the French call a coup d'état, a sudden overthrow. Lots of undead will be attending the ball, and so, we can rally up attention.” She smirked. “I think you’ll know what comes next.”

“Killing?” Lacey nearly barked in excitement.

“Perhaps,” Anya giggled at Lacey’s sudden outburst. “We’re undead ourselves, but I’m certain there’s some of our kind that we don’t like!”

“Good!” Lacey growled in response. “We can kill that bastard of the demon right then and there!”

“We can’t just kill Adaru like that, Lacey,” Chase reminded Lacey. “Remember, he’s the one with all the power!”

“So when the undead die, they’re permanently dead,” Hayley said to remind herself. “So, if we all kill about fifty or so legion members… then that’ll be fifty more souls freed!”

“Correct!” Alice exclaimed. “The mortals who died for Adaru didn’t deserve to die. Sure, we’re undead too and wish we can get out, but we don’t have that chance anymore. We don’t want to be evil and use our powers for corruption. So, Anya and I vowed that whenever the time was right, we would escape and help the living.”

“If only we were able to start ZAP up again,” Hayley remarked to herself.

“Now, remember, we are unsure as to whether or not our plan’s going to work,” Anya told her sister and the trio. “It could be revoked at any given time. We have to act secretly, which means you guys are going to have to stay in the cellar at all times.”

“Not even for fresh air?” Chase asked almost jokingly.

“Okay, that’s different,” Alice replied, “but seriously, the heralds can’t know that you’re here.”

“We came for their help, though,” Chase added. “We’ll tell them it was a false alarm that Lady Luck received, or something. If the heralds discover that you made it here successfully and that we’re on the rebels’ side, we’re all doomed.”

“Understood,” Hayley and Lacey said in unison.

“Now, today’s Sunday evening,” Anya informed the trio. “We’ve got two full days until Lord Adaru’s ball, which gives us plenty of time to strategize and prepare for our reckoning. How should we start?”

After a moment of thought, the Caine manor’s cellar transformed from a dingy holding place into a secret hideout, where the rebels slowly planned their rise to power. These young minds have finally found each other, joining together to wreak havoc on the dead, just as they did with the living.

Little did they know that above them, their inspiration was cracking.


	16. Unexpected Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine makes an unlikely ally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual trigger warnings are in effect.

**14\. Unexpected Company**

As soon as Paolo’s Porsche stopped in the dirt lot that served as a parking space, Katharine knew she was about to experience more pain than ever. Paolo and Lady Luck thought she betrayed them in their psychotic, twisted ways. Thinking fast, she quickly unbuckled her seat belt and swung the door open, desperately praying she’d reach the manor before her Strengoit captors. However, as soon as her feet met the dirt, Lady Luck approached her from behind, digging a long, red fingernail into her shoulder.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Luck hissed hotly in Katharine’s ear. “You can’t go unpunished for what you’ve did to Paolo.”

“I gave him a good show,” Katharine replied angrily as she tried to force the goddess off of her. “I had your fucking demon king possess me, and he didn’t think that was enough?”

“Oh, he isn’t angered about that. Don’t you remember that you had him kicked out of the Universal Palace?” Luck’s voice was turning into a guttural growl, and her face showed that she was trying to hold back her succubus form. “It’s the only place in Carey where he felt his films would be accepted!”

When Paolo emerged out of the car, Katharine yelped as she tried to flee. He was quick enough to stop her, pulling her from the waist. His strong grip met her throat, causing her to heave out for air. Her eyes were burning, her sides aching in pain. Katharine had dealt with enough suffering since she was caught, and now that she was undead, there was literally no escape.

Paolo dragged Katharine into the Caine manor’s foyer, grabbing onto her arm tightly as she sobbed in agony. Luck sauntered behind them, her usual smirk plastered on her face as she took delight in the chaos surrounding her. Of course, she had caused it, but wouldn’t take the credit this time around.

“I had the most perfect film set up!” Paolo yelled. “It would’ve been my masterpiece! You killed beautifully, but you just had to let your Strengoit charms seduce me! Now, I cannot even think of new scenes to write!”

“Oh, don’t forget about Julian, Paolo,” Luck said disapprovingly, sighing in disgust upon seeing that Katharine wore Julian’s jacket.

“Oh, right, totally forgot about that bastard,” Paolo mumbled to himself. “Now he knows that I shoot my films in his theater, and it’s all thanks to you!”

“I didn’t mean it,” Katharine sobbed, letting her anxiety get the best of her. “Adaru made me kiss you!”

“Adaru would never do such a thing!” Luck growled in retaliation.

Katharine’s blood chilled as she noticed Dr. Caine entering the foyer, his blood-soaked scalpel-scissors in his hand. The constant bickering and quarreling was affecting his work, as Katharine was able to hear one of his ‘living autopsies’ screaming from far away. “Paolo, Fortuna, what is with all the yelling?” Albert questioned his fellow heralds in irritation. “Are you not aware that I am in the middle of an important operation?”

“Oh, sorry, Dr. Caine,” Luck said, her tone of voice changing from vengeful to seductive. “It’s just that poor Paolo’s film didn’t come out the way he imagined.

“Let me guess, the girl had a part to play in it?” Albert glanced toward Katharine.

“She was my star,” Paolo began, “and her performance was captivating! Lord Adaru helped her out to some extent, sir , but apparently, Adaru had some other plans for Katharine as well. She… she tried to fuck me, like a whore in the streets of Los Angeles! Maybe it was better off if we didn’t decide on her being a Strengoit. The Cerebins need a lot more help with their legion. It’s probably not too late for a blood transfusion—“

“No!” Albert suddenly bellowed. “Blood transfusions are against Adaru’s words, Ravinski. He wants the legions to be pure, none of that mutation nonsense.”

Paolo sighed in frustration. His pale skin was tinted with the slightest shade of red. “What shall I do with the girl, Dr. Caine? She defied my orders, although that doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.”

“She’s a rebel, remember?” Luck said tauntingly.

Katharine choked on her tears as she tried to block out Paolo and Luck’s cruel words. She knew they were aware of the truth; they were just acting like she did everything to humiliate and further depress her. As more tears came flooding in, Katharine bit on her lip until it drew blood. She should’ve just stayed with Julian, she thought, although she knew she couldn’t trust him. He ushered her to this life, but why was he being so careful of her in the screening room?“

Did you hear him, Katharine?” she heard Paolo ask, referring to Dr. Caine’s suggestion. “He wants you to watch a living autopsy!”

“As punishment?” Katharine asked solemnly.

“No,” Albert answered, “but rather, it is a warning to you if you ever disobey us ever again. After all, there’s plenty of undead that I’d like to experiment on someday. And according to what I have been told, you should’ve lay on my operating table a very long time ago. Follow me, please.”

Katharine left her captors as she followed Albert out of the foyer and to the East Wing, which was tucked back beyond the fallen grandeur of the manor. The stench of human decomposition was strong, as Katharine passed several corpses that lay on rolling carts with blankets over them. There were jars filled with fluids and body parts Katharine couldn’t quite distinguish, and several metal objects lay about, sharpened to the tip and stained with blood . This room was Dr. Caine’s laboratory, where the living suffered their cruel fates.

“Ah, yes, here he is,” Katharine heard Albert mutter to himself as he rolled out a cart. This time, there was a still living body on it; his ankles and wrists were bound together to the surface of the cart with shackles. “Now, Katharine, I presume you’re wondering as to why dinner hasn’t been served yet. I have given the servants a night off from preparing the food tonight. Would you like to know why?” Katharine merely nodded. “It’s because you shall be preparing dinner tonight, Katharine, with a little bit of assistance.”

“Katharine, please help me!” the bound man screamed, his glassy, pleading eyes recognizing her. “You know who I am, don’t you?”

As Katharine stared deeply into the man’s eyes, she recognized him as Daryl , a trainee who frequented ZAP in pursuit of learning how to perfect his aim with the crossbows. He tried so hard, even staying after hours sometimes so Chase could help the unfortunately blind man find the bullseye. Daryl’s tragic story made Katharine feel proud; even those who were disabled were able to fight for their right to survive.

“This man shall be our meal,” Albert continued. “You are going to slice him open, or rather I will have one of my assistants cut him for you. Now, the removal of body parts shall be your task. You first carve out his heart, and then his intestines. It sounds simple, doesn’t it Katharine?” Again, Katharine could only nod. “Good. Do you think you’d be able to do all of this while he is still alive?”

“Would there even be?” Katharine asked dryly.

“If I am able to do it, then so are you,” Albert replied coldly. “Get the job done.” Katharine stared at him blankly, remembering that she wouldn’t be the one opening up Daryl. “Oh, yes, I almost forgot! I need to go fetch my assistant. He’s rather new around these places, but his belligerent nature will surely help me with harvesting more souls. Excuse me for a moment.”

Albert left his laboratory, leaving Katharine alone. Immediately, her eyes started panning around the room, trying to locate exits. While Dr. Caine was distracted, she’d run like hell out of the room and try to find a way out of the manor entirely. She knew deep in her heart that the Universal Palace Theater was where she’d be the safest; it was only a movie theater with a rather haunted past, not a mortuary where the mortals were delivered to die.

A few moments later, Albert returned to the room, this time with a burly man following behind him. His black, greasy hair was crudely slicked back, making his faded clown makeup and cloudy eyes clear. He wore a fine suit of black and white, although some parts of it were tearing at the seams. As Katharine took note of the metal guard that concealed his nose and mouth, her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, recognizing her ally.

“Eddie!” Katharine screamed, clutching her heart. “They’ve taken you, too?”

“Oh, you remember Edgar, Katharine?” Albert asked her in amusement. “He decided to join the Maschorian ranks just a night or two ago. Of course, there was a young woman who barely survived his maze that tried to convince him otherwise, but he chose the best decision, courtesy of Fortuna. He is finally ours now. Jack was surprisingly pleased.” Katharine approached Eddie, waving her hand in his face.

“Eddie, snap out of this!” she pleaded. “Please, stop! Albert’s making you do this to make me suffer! Please—“She recoiled back when Eddie revved up his chainsaw just mere inches away from her. The strong gas fume scent filled the room, causing her to cough violently like a victim of the plague.

“Don’t even think about trying to recruit back Eddie,” Albert told Katharine sternly. “Adaru has been informed of Eddie joining the legions, and there is no way he will let Eddie return to the rebels. Remember this piece of advice that Fortuna told me about: An ally may now be an enemy, but an enemy may now be a friend. She told me that she told that to your friends.”

“She _what?!_ ” Katharine barked.

Albert’s scalpel scissors moved inches away toward Katharine’s throat. “You have a task that needs to be fulfilled. Edgar, if you would do Katharine the honor of slicing open the body.”

Eddie nodded silently as the chainsaw’s blade went right into Daryl’s stomach. Katharine screamed in agony as the blade went deeper down, blood squirting in several directions as the blade met the flesh. There were squishing sounds as the blade found intestines, as some spewed out from Daryl’s stomach. His flesh was peeled back, exposing the carnage within.

“That’s enough, Edgar!” Albert yelled through the chainsaw’s loud buzzing. The laboratory became silent again, as the chainsaw’s menacing sound evaporated into thin air. “Thank you. You are dismissed, unless you would like to observe Katharine do her task.”

Eddie nodded in agreement. He wanted to see Katharine.

Katharine approached the side of the cart, weeping silent tears as she gazed upon Daryl’s open, foggy eyes. Even the disabled weren’t safe from Adaru’s wrath; this was only another soul he needed to stay alive. She placed her hand on Daryl’s freezing shoulder, whispering, “I’m sorry” as she mourned for a fallen comrade. His body was already starting to rot, as she learned that whenever Adaru was notified of a new soul, an infection would spread throughout the victim’s body.

Katharine moved her hand down to Daryl’s stomach, unwillingly cut open like a dissection. As soon as her finger traced along the edge of the cut, it was stained with darkening blood. She could see his chest cavity, his stomach, and his intestines, what Albert wanted. She also had to retrieve his heart, which as Katharine moved her hand upward in the corpse, she found it faintly beating.

“Come on now, Katharine,” Albert said impatiently. “You’ve killed the dead before, and perhaps took a body part or two for some examination. Why aren’t you doing it now?”

“Because he was my trainee!” Katharine replied, trying not to yell. “I… I…” She shook her head. Bringing up ZAP and the past too many times would seriously damage her, especially when the heralds used it to her disadvantage.

“Just get on with it!” Eddie spoke for the first time since Katharine saw his reformed state, bloodthirsty and vengeful. His voice had a mean sharpness that Katharine never heard, unless when Eddie was going on a serious rant about his brother.

Biting her lip, Katharine adjusted her hand and snapped Daryl’s heart right out of his chest. The organ pulsed and writhed, causing her to squeak in disgust and drop the heart to the floor. As she bent down to retrieve the heart, Katharine noticed that Eddie and Albert had their backs turned to her, chuckling to themselves as they knew she wouldn’t get the job done. They didn’t even care if Katharine got this job done; they just wanted to watch her suffer.

“Finally, a distraction,” Katharine said quietly to herself. As quietly as she could, Katharine placed the heart on top of Daryl’s ribcage and darted out of the room. She rushed down a dark corridor with aging portraits, whose eyes glanced down at Katharine as she mentally plotted out her escape. Dust made Katharine’s eyes water as she passed rooms seemingly abandoned, until she stopped in a room filled with books of unknown lore. The room looked occupied, as a lamp was still on and the shadow of someone moving in the middle of the library made Katharine’s adrenaline race.

“One, two, Eddie’s coming for you…” Eddie’s voice echoed throughout the hallway.

“Shit!” Katharine muttered to herself. Albert and Eddie had found out she escaped, and now in his new brainwashed state, Eddie would slice her! Quickly, Katharine ran into the library and slammed the door shut, hiding in between bookshelves as she kept her eyes on the lingering shadow.

Through the open spaces, Katharine noticed the herald of legend, Elsa Strict perusing book titles, her jagged fingernail sliding against the leathery spines. Katharine recalled that Elsa was the only herald who showed some kind of sympathy for her, understanding that her freedom and life was taken away too soon. She was unsure of whether or not she could talk to Elsa; she couldn’t trust anyone right now. Yet, she was so lonely, and Anya and Alice were too busy with manor chores to stop and chat.

“Let’s see here,” Elsa mumbled to herself, choosing a brown leather book with a gold, root-like design on the spine. “The Origins of Adaru, written in conjunction with Demons Among Us by Dr. Abraham Lockheed. I’m amused Albert would keep such a book in this library. Dr. Lockheed was known for being a rebel some time ago. It’s good that he’s become an influential Kerezan now.”

Elsa claimed the book, slowly walking away from the shelf. The coast seemed clear now, Katharine thought as she walked past the bookshelf Elsa just stood before. However, when Katharine started to examine the book titles herself, she felt a cold, veiny hand on her shoulder. Whipping around, Katharine saw that it was still Elsa, but her blue eyes expressed kindness rather than animosity.

“Hello, Katharine,” Elsa said, “did Dr. Caine grant you some limited freedom?” Katharine nodded quickly, unsure of how to answer. Elsa chuckled. “That’s quite all right. I don’t mind if you’ve left your room just to read. In fact, I recommend it! Absorbing your brain with knowledge while in captivity keeps the mind sane, if only for a short period at a time.”

“I was curious if I would be able to find any information about the legions in here,” Katharine told Elsa. It was partially true; she only knew the stereotypes and quirks of each legion. For example, there were three branches of each legion: Fully Dead, Partially Dead, and Undead, with fully dead being of low intelligence, and undead the highest. “Oh, and I sort of want to learn more about Lord Adaru, too. Like, his backstory I suppose.”

“Oh, you can borrow this, then.” Elsa offered her book to Katharine, gently placing it in her hands. “I’ve read and proofread each edition of this book many times before, and I’ll tell you it is simply the best book about our little strange world. In fact, it’s the only book about the Order of Fear.”

“I kind of figured,” Katharine replied awkwardly. “You know, since the Order’s only active here in Carey right now.”

“But soon, we’ll be reaching more territory,” Elsa informed Katharine. “I have heard that Adaru wants to conquer Orlando, Florida next. Supposedly, there is an event that is taking our aliases and altering them so the general public can learn about us. I think it is a nice form of unintentional propaganda of sorts, but I am suspicious as to how the event coordinators found our information.”

Katharine shrugged, unsure of how to respond. “Maybe some of the information from the book got leaked on the Internet or something.”

“Perhaps,” Elsa sighed. “People are so reliant upon the Internet these days. I suppose they are too lazy to place a book in their own hands and seek out the information themselves.”

Elsa had no time to waste in the library. To Katharine, she appeared hesitant to even be in her presence. Perhaps she had gotten reprimanded by Fear himself for speaking in Katharine’s respect, or was trying to keep her true opinions to herself. Either way, Katharine wanted to enlist Elsa’s help with defeating Lord Adaru, the goal that never left her mind even when she got captured.

As Elsa approached the still-closed door, Katharine touched her shoulder. “Uh, Elsa? Is it all right if I ask you something?”

“Oh, yes, dearie,” Elsa replied kindly, “I suppose I can help.”

“Why are you the only herald that actually understands my predicament?”

“What do you mean, Katharine?”

“You… at dinner that one night, you told the others that I needed more time to adjust. They were so bloodthirsty and vengeful for me to receive what I deserved, but you… you understood that all I needed was time.”

Elsa paused, lost in thought. “I believe my fellow heralds acted a bit too soon. Although I may follow Adaru’s word and law, I think that his time to receive power may not be now. The human souls we gather may be making him stronger, but it will be more than souls for him to vanquish all of the living.”

“So you mean—“

“I do agree that the Zombie Awareness Program needed to close, but not in the way you’re expecting. All I can tell you is this: Adaru is a very dangerous demon. You may not be aware of all of his ambitions, but you will once the right time to strike occurs. You’re very important to us, Katharine, but in a different reason to myself… and to Julian.”

“What’s Julian’s issue, anyway?” The constant bringing up of Julian made Katharine curious. Why did he like her so much?

Elsa smirked. “You’ll have to ask him yourself.” As she walked out of the library, Katharine was quick to follow her. “But what do you mean? He’s shown me nothing but animosity and hate since I’ve confronted him. Does he have separate plans regarding this whole Adaru situation?”

Elsa turned back to Katharine, smiling. “You’ve hit the nail on the head, Katharine. I’m afraid that is all I can tell you, however. You’ll find out in due time.” She placed a hand on Katharine’s shoulder, a returning kind gesture. Elsa then placed something wooden and slickly painted in Katharine’s hand.

When Katharine glanced down, she saw it was a wooden totem in Julian’s likeness, right down to his narrow cheekbones and milky left eye. It was just like the totem on Adaru’s pelt; perhaps Elsa had stolen it. “Here’s what I’d like you to do, Katharine,” Elsa told Katharine. “I want you to speak with Julian . His plans regarding Adaru’s usurping of Carey are greater than you’d think. Perhaps he should’ve been reborn a Baccanoid than a Kerezan. He will tell you the reasons why ZAP was forced to close, as well as your real role in this story.”

“But he hates—“Katharine started.

Elsa placed a finger against her lips. “Sometimes, Julian’s vengeance gets the best of him. You must not take it seriously every time. All I’d like you to do is visit the Portmanteau, go to the Universal Palace, and request to see Julian while he’s not consumed with his ushering. Perhaps you can befriend him.”

“But—“

“Katharine, trust me. As this world becomes more corrupt, you’ll have to seek out different people that you didn’t know you could trust. A past enemy may now be your best friend. Maybe that has happened to you before in your life.”

“It has.” Katharine remembered when she met Lacey back in high school. She was one of the prissy popular girls, laughing at Katharine when she dropped her zombie novels in the hallway, or when she passed out ZAP brochures along with Amanda. It was only when Lacey’s mother got bit by a Kerezan did her feelings about her change. She apologized profusely, thinking she was a fool since she didn’t take the zombie apocalypse seriously.

“Then you understand,” Elsa replied. “I will lead you to the Portmanteau, if you don’t mind. Shall I inform Dr. Caine that you went visiting?”

“Tell him I’m just visiting,” Katharine told Elsa firmly as they descended downstairs. “I managed to escape one of his living autopsies while he wasn’t looking. Now, Eddie’s looking for me. Just tell him I wanted to learn more about my captors through words rather than actions.”

“Nicely said.” Elsa gently took Katharine’s hand as she led her out of the manor and back into the dark woods. Katharine could hear Elsa muttering something in a cryptic language; perhaps the heralds learned a secret language that Katharine would never decipher. As Elsa’s muttering grew more intense, the woods appeared hazy in front of Katharine, until they disappeared entirely, replaced by the murky cavernous rock of Lord Adaru’s lair.

“You’re taking me to him, aren’t you?” Katharine asked hesitantly.

“No,” Elsa replied, “I told you I am leading you to where Julian is.”

They stopped in front of a wall with five door-shaped holes, each surrounding a silver plate engraved with the heralds’ symbols. Three out of five of them had gold, sharply angled pieces covering them, signs that those three heralds were the most loyal to Adaru. Three of the holes also had three totems in the likenesses of Jack, Albert, and Paolo, notifying Katharine which heralds had given Adaru the most power. However, the remaining two, Elsa and Julian’s, remained empty.

“What does this mean?” Katharine asked Elsa in confusion, reaching her hand out to touch Jack’s gold piece.

“Don’t touch that!” Elsa suddenly hissed, grabbing Katharine’s hand away. “This is how we heralds clock in for the night, if you will. We have a certain limit of souls we have to harvest each night, and so far, it appears Jack, Albert, and Paolo have done their work.”

“Paolo did, obviously,” Katharine remembered.

“As for myself, let’s just say that being alive since the early 1900s has taken quite a toll on me,” Elsa informed Katharine. “Of course, I wasn’t resurrected until late, about five years ago.”

“As for Julian?” Katharine inquired.

“It’s time for you to find out,” Elsa simply said. Elsa stuck the totem of Julian into his specially marked hole, which caused the room to explode in a sudden burst of light. A gold piece much like the other three heralds popped up where Julian’s mark was on the plate, the second to last piece of the puzzle. Katharine was confused, wondering how exactly the idea of the Portmanteau and the totems worked. The book Elsa had given her probably explained.

“So the undead can do magic,” Katharine muttered to herself in wonderment. The light in the cavern was so bright that it temporally blinded her; she tried to shield her eyes using her arm. A few moments later, Katharine looked up briefly to see if any of her surroundings changed, which they did quite dramatically.

It was now nighttime, and the West Street of Carey was vacant, save for a few wandering Morphans and their pet Cerebin werewolves. As Katharine squinted her eyes, she noticed that Elsa had performed an invocation to bring her to the same street as the Universal Palace Theater, which was just a hundred or so feet away. Katharine started to walk quickly so the wandering Morphans didn’t see her. She tugged onto her Julian's jacket sleeve nervously, darting her eyes from side to side just in case if any of the heralds managed to figure out her escape in the short amount of time. Everything seemed all right, as the Universal Palace was getting closer and closer, until…

“There ‘ya are, Katharine!” a familiar voice roared, his chainsaw buzzing wildly.

 


	17. There's No Sympathy for the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julian and Katharine form an unlikely alliance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hai guys! I haven't updated this thing in so long, and I'm really sorry! I had a bunch of other stuff in the way and couldn't post chapters as often as I'd like to. But, I'm back! Uh... not much to say aside from that. Oh, the usual trigger warnings are in place. Enjoy the chapter!

**15\. There's No Sympathy for the Dead**

“Fuck!” Katharine screamed, quickening her pace as her ally-turned-enemy charged from behind her. “How did he find me so fast?”

She continued to run, even though her ankles were starting to get sore and the chilly October breeze was nearly freezing her face. Katharine heard the chainsaw getting closer and closer to her ear, almost too close for comfort. The gas fumes were filling up her nose, making her gag and struggle for breath. Eddie had become an insane lunatic out for blood, what he formerly was according to Chase. He was grunting wildly, chasing Katharine past the abandoned storefront, the task of ending her never leaving his mind.

Katharine laughed in relief as the Universal Palace’s marquee lights shone upon her, like the beacon of light when arriving into heaven. She was so close to her sanctuary, the only place where she was free from the heralds’ tyranny. She’d be free from Albert’s cruel experiments, Paolo’s films of torture… Suddenly, Katharine felt a force knocking her to the ground. She landed on her back, yelping as her spine tingled in pain. It was difficult for her to get up and approach her attacker, especially when the rolling chainsaw blade was mere inches from her face.

“Eddie!” Katharine screamed in agony, crying as she watched her friend try to kill her in the brink of madness. “This isn’t like you! Please, please, I know you’re still there!”

“That’s what Lacey said!” Eddie growled, moving the blade so his mismatched eyes bore into Katharine’s. “I ain’t changing for anybody anymore! I know what my purpose is now, Katharine, and it’s to kill or be killed! That’s what life is all about!”

All Katharine could do is remain frozen in shock as the chainsaw blade cut into the flesh of her right leg. She screamed as blood oozed out of the open wound, the rust meeting her bloodstream. _This was it_ , she thought, _this is the end_. The heralds wanted her dead even though she already was, and it was because of _everything_. She realized the truth now; she was sorry, sorry for causing so much grief for the dead. But in the world, there was no sympathy for anything that ceased to live.

The blade unstuck itself from Katharine after fifteen seconds. Eddie had cut into her leg fairly deep, almost tearing into the muscle. Katharine sobbed quietly to herself, uncertain as to whether or not she’d now be paralyzed in that leg. The worst of it all was that this life-long injury was given to her by someone she thought she could trust, someone she considered a good friend. As ZAP was dead, Eddie was too, his mind corrupted and belligerent, just like the heralds.

Eddie left Katharine to wallow in pain, simply walking away. As her sobbing grew intense, to the point where the pain in her throat made her breathless, another light flooded on top of her. This time, it was the light coming from the Universal Palace’s lobby; someone in the theater had heard her screams. Katharine looked up as she saw an usherette, a girl dressed in a feminized version of Julian’s outfit. She was undead as well, with her faded auburn ringlets and deeply sunken in cheeks. 

The usherette bent down to Katharine’s level, placing a cold hand on her chest. She snarled, her glassy eyes staring into Katharine’s, as if she received a notification of the previous events somehow. Like a prisoner from the Maschorian legion, the usherette growled in rage and sped down the sidewalk, running after Eddie until all Katharine heard was a loud roar and a high screech.

As Katharine began to lose consciousness, she felt strong hands lift her from off the ground. She buried her head into her hero’s chest as he took her away from the scene and into the lobby of the Universal Palace. The atmosphere became calmer, the soft, haunting jazz music put Katharine’s mind at ease. However, the music faded as Katharine drifted off into a numb sleep, her flesh tingling with goosebumps as she was carried into the darkest, coldest parts of the theater, the underground. 

===

_October 26th, 5:45 pm._

When Katharine woke up, she was startled by her new surroundings. Her bed had the curved shape of a swan, and many ruffly curtains framed the walls. Lighted candelabras bathed the room with warm light, clearly showing the dirt and even blood stains on the dark pink curtains. Many items had been brought into the room, such as a dressing table and several bottles of perfumes, which lay haphazardly on a nearby dresser. Katharine even noticed dresses hanging in a nearby closet, more loose and simple than the Victorian ones at the Caine manor.

Katharine was about to rise from the bed, but a sharp pain in her leg prevented her from doing so. She remembered that she had been injured deeply in the leg by Eddie, who acted so differently that Katharine could’ve sworn the heralds brainwashed him. The pain in her leg burned intensely, even spreading to her hip. She cried out in pain, biting her lip as she tried to endure. The booming harpsichord music that suddenly came from somewhere inside her new location didn’t help, either.

“Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on here?” Katharine attempted to yell over the music. It didn’t help, as the music drained out her voice entirely. Katharine recalled she was in the Universal Palace Theater, but where exactly? Her surroundings were so homely that it didn’t even feel like she was in a movie theater; rather, it felt like a grand dressing room, like Christine’s in _The Phantom of the Opera_.

 _So, if I’m Christine in this whole situation_ , Katharine thought, _is Julian my Phantom?_

After a few unsuccessful tries of trying to rise, Katharine fell back onto the bed in defeat. The injury was a serious problem; how would she move in the future, let alone at all? As Katharine glanced down at her bad leg, she saw that a white bandage had been wrapped around it. The white clearly showed the blood that soaked through the fabric, which scared Katharine; that was her own blood, something she didn’t like seeing. Blood from the undead she could handle, but her own? It made her nauseous.

The harpsichord music stopped, and after a moment, Julian appeared in the door frame. When Katharine saw him, she yelped out in horror. Despite everything that Elsa said, that he might actually despise Lord Adaru, she was still terrified of him. Julian was the one partly responsible for ZAP’s demise, and her sentencing of becoming undead. Since when was he the hero? “Good evening, Katharine,” the usher said in his usual dialect, his flashlight’s light nearly blinding her.

“The same to you,” Katharine replied, uncertainty in her voice. She wished she could run out of here, but there was no other place to go. _At least this place is better than the Caine manor_ , Katharine thought, _where the heralds dwell and think my suffering's the best thing they've ever seen_. As Julian approached her bedside, she hesitantly added, “So, it looks like I’m staying here for good.”

“That’s terrific. I’ve already notified Dr. Caine and told him that there will be a… change in boarding plans for you.” Julian drifted slowly to Katharine’s bedside, and began to unwrap the bandage around Katharine’s leg. When Katharine saw just how deep the injury was, she bit down on her lip to prevent from vomiting. This was an imprint that was going to last her for the entirety of her afterlife -- forever. “Don’t worry about the wound, Katharine. It will heal soon.”

“Are you sure about that?” Katharine asked the undead usher.

“Of course. The undead are able to heal, perhaps quicker than mortals, granted that we are able to sustain much more damage. I suppose it’s one of the… better things about being undead.”

As Katharine watched Julian wrapping a new, clean bandage around her leg, the many questions she had for him flooded her mind again. Why did he care so much? Why was Elsa inferring that he was a rebel, too? Trying to approach one question at a time, Katharine started to speak again. “Elsa was telling me you have plans regarding Adaru’s domination of Carey. She told me that I’m very important to you. Just how exactly?”

Julian cleared his throat; this was going to be lengthy. “You see, Katharine, some of us heralds have realized that serving for Adaru is not how we wish to spend our afterlives. Although we are all dead and would like to rest in peace, the idea of haunting the living is something we still prefer. Of course, we’d like to use our afterlives for our own reasons, and not to hand over souls to a demon with an impossible task.”

“Tell me about it,” Katharine managed to chuckle. “It surprises me you actually realized that.” Realizing what she found out, Katharine’s eyes widened in disbelief. Julian Browning, the herald of vengeance who Katharine knew was dedicated to his job, actually thought Adaru’s intentions were stupid? “No, really. I thought you all were for Adaru.”

“Not anymore,” Julian replied with slight disgust in his voice. “He never really gives the undead a chance to… live again. All he wants to do with us is gather us up, segregate us into the legions, and have us fight until we fall over dead, or otherwise. He can give a damn less if he loses anybody. And for us heralds, it’s worse. Once our nineteen years of serving him are up, we’re sent back to the grave.”

Katharine didn’t know how to respond. The undead had it just as worse as the humans did. While the living was obligated to fight and kill, it was the dead that really struggled to survive, although biting and turning humans wasn’t the best method of survival. Still, Katharine knew they were Adaru’s soldiers, his army; as long as the undead thrived, he did as well. She felt like there was a loophole in what Julian just told her, but her mind was thinking a thousand things at once that she couldn’t quite figure it out.

“So, the other heralds don’t see how much of a threat Adaru really is to the dead,” Katharine said, trying to sink in the information. “They’re brainwashed into thinking that Adaru entrusts them and will give them whatever they want, but it’s the other way around. He’s using you guys just to accomplish his goal, and then when he does… you’ll be dead for good.” Julian nodded in agreement. “Then why did you come to ZAP that day and threaten to close us? Why is Elsa telling me that you’re smarter than you look?”

“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” Julian asked almost sarcastically.

“I’m just curious! I was fighting the dead just because they were a nuisance. I never really thought that the dead could feel, too! And besides, I barely knew anything about the Order other than what I was told.”

Julian sighed. “It’s because Katharine, I am as much of a rebel as you are.”

Katharine was speechless. The person who was partly responsible for closing down ZAP and having her become the Order’s prisoner was actually on the opposite side of the war? It was hard to detect when Julian injured her father a few days ago. Katharine had a hard time believing him; she always picked and chose whom she could trust, based on their personality and the way they spoke. It made befriending people easier, in her opinion. But now, could this foe easily become a friend?

“You’re telling me that you, the herald of vengeance, are a rebel?” Katharine chuckled nervously, her old senses coming back to her. “How come I don’t see you out with a gun and killing the zombies, huh? Why—“

“Kerezans,” Julian curtly corrected. He despised ‘the z slur’, thinking of some of his fellow Kerezans as rather influential for being undead.

“Right, sorry,” Katharine said quickly. “But anyway, how do you consider yourself a rebel if all you do is kill people because of their behavior? Elsa was telling me you have plans so great that you should’ve been a Baccanoid instead.”

“A Baccanoid?” Julian seemed touched. “Those are nobles of great lineage. The Browning family isn't known for being very much of... achievers.”

“Then perhaps _you_ are? I want to know your plans, Julian.”

Julian paused. “Vengeance is a powerful thing, Katharine. In these years that I’ve been guarding the theater from boorish patrons, I’ve been learning how to control my vengeance for more… powerful means. Thus, when I discovered that I would be the herald of vengeance for Adaru’s awakening, I was… angered. Like I said, he knows nothing of the dead resting in peace. All he wants is war.” Katharine nodded, the information becoming clearer. “So if he wants war, I say we give him a war that he’ll never, ever forget.”

Katharine’s lips spread in a wide, almost crazy grin. “Now we’re talking!”

“Elsa and I have been working on this plan for a long, long time,” Julian continued. “The demon knows nothing of controlling his power, and we believe we’re going to show him to his proper place. You and the fighters of the Awareness Program have been fighting his authority for so long, that I was forced to help shut it down… because the existence of the program wouldn’t have been safe anymore.”

Katharine’s heart sank to her stomach. Still, she sadly replied, “I understand.”

“Like I have said before, Katharine, it is not safe for you to go back out and confront the ones who wish to hurt you. Trust me, I know  the rest of the heralds’ intentions regarding you and your friends, and I will not let them carry them out.”

“I get it. You closed down ZAP because if we continued to fight, we would’ve been the ones dead, too. You have your own rebel situation going on here, but Adaru and the others aren’t going to expect it coming out from you.” She paused, realizing the one herald she despised so much was actually looking out for her. “I just wish my comrades knew that you were really good all along.”

“They’ll find out soon enough,” Julian told her.

“So, I guess we’re allies now? I’ll tell you something: the thought of kicking Lord Adaru’s ass has never left my mind.”

“It hasn’t really left mine, either,” Julian said with a chuckle, “but I’ll tell you what. Adaru will be hosting a party at the Caine manor in two days from now, to celebrate his ascension to power. We can distract him and attack some of the undead right there and then.”

“Are we attacking the rest of the heralds, too?”

“With time, there will be no choice but to do just that. Of course, Paolo is the first I plan to kill, next to Jack and Albert… possibly . What Paolo did to you in the confines of my theater is nothing short of unacceptable. You did not deserve that sort of treatment from him, let alone be embarrassed by partaking in a… catastrophic film. He knows nothing of the true beauty of cinema.”

“He’s a monster!” Katharine didn’t hold back how she felt. “If it wasn’t for that Strengoit bastard, I would’ve been alive!” Katharine never cried in front of people; it made her look weak. But now, she had no choice but to let it go. “I was just protecting the living from the dead. If… if the undead and the mortals just lived together in peace, that would’ve been so much better. The dead can’t suppress their appetites, and… that’s why I had to kill…”

Julian wanted to console Katharine so badly, but he couldn’t find it in his power to do so. He’d never seen the resilient, rebellious fighter break down into tears because of her predicament; the times when she’d been smuggled and sentenced were different. This was raw emotion, this was… tragedy. Being the herald of vengeance was about loathing, not pitying. But in this moment, he wanted to break out of his usual mold and actually help her.

Yet he didn’t know how.

Thinking of the best possible thing, Julian ran his gloved hand through Katharine’s thick black locks and pulled the blankets over her shoulders. She was calming down her sobs, but still hiccuped, choking on them. After a moment, he stood up silently and left the bedroom, closing the door ajar. As he watched her again, Julian knew that now, it was his duty not only to protect the Universal Palace, but to protect Katharine as well.

If only he was able to tell her how much of his muse she is.

 


	18. Fear Strengthening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As his power slowly increases, Adaru seeks advice from his infamous cousin, the Lord of Darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making the Lord of Darkness (from the movie Legend, and HHN 16's Arrival show) Adaru's cousin is definitely a decision I don't regret making! They go hand in hand - he's Darkness, he's Fear, and they're both badass. Looks like our heroes are going to confront more than just the undead later on! XD
> 
> Anyway, the usual trigger warnings apply. Enjoy!

**16\. Fear Strengthening**

Adaru's lair, 6:00 pm.

Alone, Adaru stood before the fire, distracted by his excitement. Only twenty souls remain, said the herald of death, until you are revealed, master. However, another emotion was beginning to usurp Adaru's mind, an emotion he hadn’t felt in centuries . It possessed his thoughts slowly, nipping at his heels, dragging him away from the goal at hand. The girl whom he thought was foolish and inhumane for killing his people was now someone he was fascinated by, perhaps becoming obsessed with. Her fear was delicate, but her spirit was ravishing, and when exposed to the right conditions, she was _sublime_.

“The world shall be mine in just a few cycles,” Adaru murmured to himself, “ and only then will fear reign and all shall be submerged with darkness. But this girl, the… fighter, distracts me. I have never felt such admiration for a girl in many centuries. For once, I am tempted to feel… desire.”

The shadow demons danced around Adaru, trying to win back his attention. Their father had been very busy these past few months, plotting his overthrow of Carey and soon, the world. They were left alone, uncared for as they simply observed the work that went on. Now, as Adaru was alone, the demons could finally receive their father’s love again, or so they thought. They hissed and cried to get his attention, clawing at him with their soft, black hands.

“Enough!” Adaru bellowed. The demons recoiled and hissed in fright as they slithered away like snakes.

Adaru observed the flames growing higher and higher, until a familiar demon passed through them as if they were curtains. This demon was cherry red from head to toe, sporting slick, black horns and hooves for feet. His yellow eyes sparkled in the caverns’ limited light, and his fangs formed a hungry grin. He let out a throaty chuckle that resonated throughout the entire cavern, amused by the fact that he could deem his cousin just as successful as he was at this point.

“Darkness,” Adaru growled upon the sight of the Lord of Darkness, his slightly more powerful cousin. They both reigned over the fearful powers that the mortals were terrified to come across, and it was always a competition between them both. “Why are you here?”

“I can hear your thoughts loud and clear, boy,” the Lord of Darkness replied tauntingly. “You are in love with a girl, perhaps the first time in your whole entire life.”

“I have been stuck in that lantern for much too long,” Adaru informed his cousin angrily. “I have been stuck staring at nothing but fire for thousands of years! I make my home here in the underground, and not once have I seen a woman other than those in my power. But… there is finally one. She calls herself a rebel, fighting and killing the people of my legions. My heralds have dealt with handling her, but I still feel and feed on her fear… it is savory.”

“What are you trying to tell me, cousin?”

There was silence. “I want Katharine Romero to be my queen.”

“And is she pure?” Darkness questioned. “You rule over these undead beings, their souls dead much like their bodies. You see this Katharine girl as something to cherish because she is different. She does not wander around looking for flesh to dine on, but rather, she fights against your people. What makes you think she will join you? You want to infest the whole world in never-ending fear, but your true desire is meaningless!”

“Meaningless?” Adaru roared in rage. “It will occur!”

“Yes, but what shall you gain from it? Nothing but dead souls and fear. It will grow stale with time, cousin! The world is in your grasp, but all of a sudden you want some measly vampire girl to join you?” Darkness paused, lost in thought. “You know, Adaru, this very situation has happened to me before. It was once long ago, when humanity was not as corrupt as it is now.”

“Tell me, cousin,” Adaru said, leading Darkness to his throne. “I need to know how to win the girl over. I am the one she is horrified by, as I ordered the deaths of her family, friends, and business. How did you do it so many times, without fail?”

“But I did fail,” Darkness replied with an irritated growl. “I tried so hard, wooing girls with their hearts’ desires, but the bumbling hero always saved them in the end. There was a girl, an innocent and pure princess known as Lily. She was so beautiful… until she laid her hands upon the unicorn. Legend declared that if the unicorns, known to be the most pure of power, were touched, the world would freeze in a never-ending, dark winter. That is precisely what happened, cousin, thanks to my work. Lily and her lover, Jack o’ the Green were separated, on the opposite ends of the forest.”

Adaru stirred silently as Darkness continued his story. “I knew I needed Lily. I was in love with her, as she had caused the world to freeze. She had the power of creation! I desired so hard that she become my Queen, as we would be able to reign over the world and drown it in the eternal dark winter that she caused. Yet, I was so confused. How would I tempt the girl over to my side?”

“With gifts,” Adaru mumbled. This wasn’t the first time he heard the story of Princess Lily before, but he knew he needed to hear it once again.

“Yes, with gifts,” Darkness answered, as if this was Adaru’s first time hearing his story. “I gave her riches beyond measure … jewelry, a dress. She was horrified when I told her the dress was to be her wedding gown. I even gave her a grand feast, but she vowed she’d never succumb to my side. But then, I noticed a great change in her. She’d marry me on one condition, if she killed the unicorn. How easily she tricked me! It was all an act she put on! I was sent hurdling back into space by that idiotic boy!

“So now, I see that you are in the same predicament as I once was, Adaru. I shall give you some advice as to how to win this Katharine girl over. Although I have retired from trying to find queens, perhaps I shall help you find yours, if you so persist. If I do not help you now, I will never hear the end of it out of you.”

“You are the Lord of Darkness,” Adaru said, “and your power is stronger than mine. Your stories and anecdotes contain fascinating advice all the undead need to learn from, including me. Tell me… what do I need to do?”

“Here is what my Father told me.” Darkness tried to recall. The whole scenario with Lily had been many, many centuries ago, and his father’s advice had become stale as old bread in his mind. “To make her one of us, you must charm her, woo her, change her spirit. Hypnotize her, set her free… bring her to you.”

“That’s it, then!” Adaru said in realization. “I must give her what she most desires. She wishes to see her friends again, and to find her freedom. Freedom is not the answer; she is still our captive.” Adaru stopped as a plan requiring his heralds’ help formed in his mind. “My heralds shall assist me in granting the girl some more… praise. We shall present her with gifts, anything she possibly wants. As her fear becomes weaker, I will taint her soul for her to… love me.”

“Tainting her soul is just using her!” Darkness said in disagreement. “You need to let her succumb to you, slowly. It shall take time, cousin. I hear that you will be hosting a ball tomorrow?”

“For my ascension to power,” Adaru replied. “There are only twenty or souls left, and I can feel my power surging within me. If I can seduce Katharine to join my side, then the rest of the souls shall be easier for my heralds to claim. Thus… this ball will be not only for me, but for her. It shall now celebrate our engagement!”

“Well thought out, Adaru,” Darkness drawled out slowly. “During this ball, Katharine must receive praise, more encouragement that she helped you rise to power. Spoil her rotten, give her what she wants as soon as she asks for it. Do not underestimate her abilities, for she will soon have no choice but to join you. Be certain to advise your heralds… I can sense this girl is still afraid of you.”

“We must make her one of us,” Adaru muttered to himself. “Make her one of us…” “Here, I have a gift for you. Consider it my… wedding gift from me, if your plan succeeds.”

Darkness snapped his fingers, and at once a wraith wearing a high-collared, revealing gown twirled in front of Adaru. She danced seductively, flipping her skirts about and spinning in circles. The wraith placed a hand on Adaru’s coarse cheek, a curious squeak sounding in her throat. She then returned to her master’s side and ran her hand down his muscly arm, waiting for a command.

“A dancing dress?” Adaru asked irritably. “What will come from that?”

“Choria’s gift is manipulation, seduction,” Darkness explained. “It worked temporally with Lily, so it may work with any other girl. Once Katharine lays eyes upon Choria, she will enter a hypnotized state, perhaps becoming vainer than she already is. Although she may appear to be an extravagant piece of clothing, the soul that lives within Choria has been taught all the black arts I know. It’s pretty amusing how they catch on so fast.”

“I see,” Adaru murmured. “I shall use it as her wedding gown… makes no sense to use it when my engagement to her will be a surprise.” Choria bowed before her new master, and twirled over to Adaru’s side. “Manipulation happens to be my favored strategy to win people over, and I believe this… creature will assist me with doing so. Now, Darkness, what else do you—“

The Lord of Darkness already disappeared, letting the flames swallow him up and take him back to his home, the Great Tree. “Damn demon! Such a clever bastard.”


	19. Make Her One of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adaru holds an important meeting with his heralds concerning the future of Katharine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really interesting to write because it's the first time in a while where I got to write our beloved icons without my fan characters coming into the scene! I always had a soft spot for Adaru/Lady Luck (though I will ALWAYS ship Paolo/Lady Luck, tee hee), and writing a little hint of their relationship was pretty cool too. They're like these mostly evil deities and at one moment, they're at war with each other, and the next, they're in love. But with Adaru's thoughts about Katharine changing, who knows what will happen (well, I do, but I can't tell you right now)!
> 
> Usual trigger warnings are in effect, but there isn't anything bad in this chapter. Enjoy!

**17\. Make Her One Of Us**

Eager with his new plans regarding Katharine, Adaru excitedly informed Luck of his conversation with Darkness as soon as she returned from her night off with Paolo. She gloated over this situation, clearly knowing that Katharine’s fate was only going to get worse. “Her comrades are still in desperation, too,” she reminded Adaru. “They have arrived to the Caine manor, yet they remain stuck in the cellar, confused as to which path they shall now take.”

“I am aware,” Adaru replied. “I have tasted the mutation’s soul.” The mere mention of a mutated legion member made Adaru speak with spite. He wanted each legion member to be pure with their legion, and for the supernatural species to not intersect. “But what is this you speak of regarding the cellar? You do not have a plan devised already?”

Luck stirred. Normally, the misfortune of others was planned much in advance. However, with assisting Paolo with his films and helping Jack and Elsa harvest souls, her infamous work had been pushed off to the side. “I… I have not taken the time to plan the exact fates of the three, my lord,” Luck said sheepishly. “You see, I…”

“Fortuna!” Adaru growled angrily. “I know what you are trying to hide from me! Even a goddess of strong power such as you can fear, you know!”

“I…” Luck stumbled. “I am sorry, my lord Adaru, but I have been assisting the heralds of chaos and legend with their soul-searching. It has been rather difficult for them in these recent times, you see. Mortal souls are becoming sparse as they are getting collected.”

Adaru grumbled lowly. “There are only twenty souls left. With the rebels hiding out and some not even accounted for, perhaps it is quite challenging to find a worthy soul. But, All Hallows’ Eve is this Sunday, Fortuna. You must continue your work of seeking unluckiness, especially for the three rebels.”

Surprisingly for the goddess of fate, she shed a tear. Lately, the thoughts of her increasing power were taking over her mind and her mission. The more Adaru took ownership of her work, the more distraught she became. “I am sorry, Adaru, and I will be certain never to ignore your rule or slack on my work ever, ever again.”

Adaru paused, noticing Luck’s sadness.“Is there something wrong, my lady? I have never seen you so upset.”

Luck sniffled, wiping tears away from her face. “I am acting silly, my lord,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I am just overwhelmed with my tasks, nothing more. You know how stressful it can become once you know the end of all your hard work is near.”

“No,” Adaru said sternly, “I know you feel something else. You are in love too, are you not?”

“I am.” Luck sniffled again. “You know I am in love with Paolo, my lord. I love him so much that I don’t think you’d understand. I helped him succeed with his passion, but now, I feel …”

“Feel what?” Adaru lifted up Luck’s head by her chin with only his finger.

“I feel… enamored by you, Adaru. But, you want Katharine to become your queen. She doesn’t, and never will love you. Why crown her as your queen when you could have me? I hold such power, and fear and fate combined will destruct the world.” At this point, Luck was sobbing. “I do all this work for you, finding and threatening people, but all you care about is their soul and how they will thrive in the legions. Yet, I am fascinated by you. You are my inspiration for doing what I do. It’s just that I don’t feel like you appreciate it!”

Adaru struggled to think of things to say. Being the God of Fear had vanquished his power to love; with him, there was only obsession. “Fortuna, you know I have given you everything you’ve ever wanted,” he told her in a sincere tone, the only time he ever used it with anybody. “I am only crowning Katharine my queen so I may feed on her fear until she is sucked dry of all life. We will discard her when she is empty of her unlife and blood. Why would you ever think that I would leave your side for a rebellious, foolish girl? You are more dignified than she will ever be.”

“And at least I support your purpose,” Luck added, trying to give her master a smile. Yet inside, she knew the purpose would only die out and usher the world into an endless nightmare of chaos. She still had to play his side of the game, but soon, she would play against his cards. _Fear cannot possibly rule over the whole world_ , Luck thought, _but that’s precisely his purpose_.

“But what of Paolo?” His voice brought her back to attention. “Do you not love him anymore?”

“I do, but…” Luck was afraid of admitting the truth. “His films start to reek of repetitiveness rather than originality. I have offered him everything that I possibly can, but he always diverts to the old ways.” She sighed sadly. “I used to be his muse. Now, he sees that girl as the perfect Strengoit beauty. I just want him to come back to me.”

“We will make it happen, Fortuna,” Adaru assured the goddess. “Once we have both risen to power and the heralds receive their bounty, then we will make your relationship with him something he will savor until I eradicate him. Think of it as… a secret relationship. You are more than just my assistant, you know. You have always been the one that inspired me to carry out my plans.”

Luck beamed, but she could see right through Adaru’s lies. “I believe just a little reassurance was what I needed, my lord. Thank you for your guidance.”

“Why do you thank me like I am a god, Fortuna?” Adaru chuckled. “We have been in alliance with each other for all these eons, and you still call me ‘my lord’?”

“Just a habit,” Luck giggled. “If I am a lady, then you are a lord.”

“Stop that! Now, I want you to cast an invocation spell and summon my heralds forth. We must notify them of the plans at hand.”

“Only what I do best,” Luck remarked, before launching into a crystal clear vocalization that made her voice sound pure. Within minutes, the heralds came stumbling down the narrow walkway from the Portmanteau to the heart of the caverns, their hooded cloaks trailing behind them. Luck joined Paolo’s side, murmuring sweet nothings in his ear while Jack watched in amusement.

“Still goin’ at him, huh Fortuna?” Jack asked. “Better watch yourself before you…”

Luck hissed, her face temporally switching to her succubus side. “I know what you do with Chance, so do not blame me for showing my… affection toward Paolo!”

“Silence!” Adaru bellowed. “Is everyone accounted for, my herald of death?”

“I believe so,” Albert replied, quickly glancing over his other four heralds. “You may begin now, sire.”

Adaru rose from his throne, adjusting his cape. “Good evening, my heralds. I am pleased to see you all here again, for I know you have been hard at work harvesting souls for my reveal to the mortal world. I should inform you that we have a mere twenty souls left until I am free! I can feel power in my veins, an awakening that makes me feel young again. It is all thanks to you, my heralds, because of your loyalty and passion.” The heralds applauded, while Elsa and Julian attempted to conceal their disgust. Adaru smiled ferally at them before lumbering over to a curtained, flat rock. He lifted the curtain off the rock, revealing an ancient painting of him and the symbols of the elements of fear. Next to Adaru’s likeness in the painting was an glaringly empty gap.

“This painting is incomplete,” Adaru told the heralds. “Of course, all of you are remembered here, as you currently worship my being, but someone is not present. It is missing another person, one of high importance.”

“Let me guess, Fortuna?” Jack replied. “Kinda sucks that she’s getting the short end of the stick here, aye?”

“No, Fortuna does not need to be presented. She will soon become her own deity, as she had only assisted me for the past twenty cycles. For many cycles, I have always desired of having a Queen by my side, someone that would rule alongside me and even bear the heirs to my throne. I have stroke fear upon many mortal and immortal women in the past, but they never met my qualifications. But, I have finally found someone that fits… perfectly.”

“Who is it, sire?” Paolo excitedly asked. “She could be the next star of my film, after that—“

“Paolo, let’s not get carried away,” Luck warned her lover, sauntering back to his side.

Adaru continued with his propositions. “My queen needs to be young and pure, someone that is tempted so easily. She needs to obey me, worship me, love me. Her fear needs to be a sweet morsel, something I can repeatedly return to. Her blood will flow in my veins, and make me feel alive again. Thus, I have formed another plan, and another task for you, my heralds. This shall be even more important than claiming souls at this point in time.”

“You… you want a Queen, sire?” Albert asked his master in disbelief. “Are you not a bit too old for one?”

Adaru ignored him as he declared, “Katharine Romero will be my queen.”

The reactions in the room were mixed. Jack and Paolo cackled hysterically, while the others stood in a stunned silence. After all the suffering Adaru forced Katharine to endure, he was turning the tables since he was now smitten with her. There is no telling how Katharine would react, the heralds thought, especially Elsa and Julian. They were the only heralds that supported Katharine and rebelling against Adaru’s rule, but what would happen when she found out the news?

Staying in her role as a loyal herald, Elsa asked, “But what about her comrades, sire? We cannot let them survive in this harsh environment.”

“I shall keep them prisoner,” Adaru replied. “They will suffer upon watching the wedding that will astound the rest of the undead. They’ll finally have a Queen, a mother to go to. But, you should realize that Katharine will temporally be my Queen. She shall hold the position until I have sucked her dry of her fear and of her blood, and after she has given birth to my heir. She’ll be a lifeless ghoul by then, forced to rot and live with nowhere and no one to go to.”

“Excellent plans, Adaru!” Jack cackled. “The Romero girl has no idea what’s coming to her!”

“And you will be leading her to it,” Luck took over Adaru’s explanation. “The Lord of Darkness has advised Adaru to be kinder to Katharine. To tempt her over, we need to give her gifts and praise. If we show her that we are actually pleased to be in her presence, then perhaps she shall turn over to us. The goal at hand is to make her one of us.”

“But… but she’s a rebel!” Jack protested . “She’s killed the Morphans! Why do we have to be nice to her? The damn kid was running around killing, and now, we need to worship her like she’s the queen of the world?”

Adaru’s head turned very sharply toward the wisecracking clown. “She will be my Queen, and you shall respect her authority!” Adaru roared.

Jack was so taken aback by this that his fiery orange wig almost flew right off his head. “Heh, right. Sorry, milord.”

“So, now that you all have been informed of our plans for Katharine, you shall go out and give her gifts, praise, whatever you see fit,” Luck explained. “But, do not forget her comrades: Lacey Broussard, Chase Killian, and her sister, Hayley Romero. They are still on the run, and even I am unsure of their whereabouts.” It was a lie, as Luck knew exactly where the trio was. She had to keep them alive for at least one more cycle for her own plans to unfurl. “Last time I checked in on them, they were somewhere near the woods in front of your manor, Albert.”

“So they are close!” Albert exclaimed in joy. “Excellent. I wonder if they’ll be sneaking into my ball.”

As Luck and Adaru discussed the plan with Jack, Albert, and Paolo, Elsa and Julian stood together, conversing about how wrong the plan was. Their new goal wasn’t to destroy Katharine; it was to protect her, and having Adaru crown Katharine as his queen would only make matters worse. “We have to stop him,” Elsa whispered.

“But how will we do that?” Julian questioned. “Adaru is a powerful demon, and we are only his heralds. We have no such power to stop him!”

Elsa smiled. “Your plans for a rebellion will come into play very soon, Julian. Remember what you told me. Katharine is your muse. She is destined to be our leader, and we can’t let her down.”

Elsa is right, Julian thought as he walked into the entrance which led him back to his underground lair. As he entered, he quickly went to Katharine’s bedroom to check on her. In the middle of her crying, she had fallen asleep, her black hair a tangled mess and her white pillows soaked with tears. Julian never wanted to see her suffer like she already did; the other heralds were abusing her and not treating her like the queen she should be, which now was Adaru’s order. Katharine had emotion within her, something fighters were skilled with concealing. He realized that both of their plans combined would mean the beginning of afterlife starting anew. Their minds together could become something strong.

But to Katharine, Julian knew he was merely the Phantom, a monster to be pitied. He needed to show her the right kind of compassion, but all he knew he could show was vengeance. It made him what he’s been all these years; a strict, uptight usher who had a great passion for film. It was very hard for him to show it without being ostracized; no one but the theater, his lady love, understood. But what if Katharine did? What if he and Katharine were alike in ways they never thought of?

He couldn’t feel animosity for her anymore. He felt guilt, sympathy, compassion – all the emotions he would be shunned for if he ever showed them. If Adaru or Luck found out, it would mean execution for him, as he was showing respect for the rebels’ side. Katharine was more than the undead-slaying girl he once thought of her as, especially with the burdens she faced in the past, and is doomed to face in the future. As much as he was afraid to admit it to practically anyone, Julian felt for the first and so far only time in his life that he was falling in love with someone other than the theater.

And it was with the girl who was easily the opposite side of the coin.

 


	20. The Eye of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rebels make their preparations for the Caine manor ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's lots of POVs and character exposition in this chapter - big surprise, I know, but I love writing my OCs and fleshing them out to their fullest potential! I should warn you now that Anya and Alice's backstory is continued in this chapter, and there is a significant event which may be triggering to some people (it's only mentioned, but still). So please be careful! Other than that, the usual trigger warnings are in effect.

**18\. The Eye of the Storm**

**CHASE, LACEY, AND HAYLEY  
**

Caine manor cellar. 6:34 pm.

Tomorrow was the event that both the heralds and rebels were waiting for: Adaru’s ball. The overlord of Fear would reveal himself to only the dead and speak of his rising power. All Hallows’ Eve was just on the horizon, four more days away. It was the only day known to man where the dead were free to revel and stalk their prey, but in Carey, everyday was Halloween.

The Caine manor’s cellar was bustling with planning and conversations of the past. Chase, Lacey, and Hayley have hid inside the cellar with barely any contact with the outside world, but they occasionally stepped out for air or when Lacey needed to run around for a while. As she was part Cerebin, Lacey oftentimes acted more like an animal than a human. There would be times when Chase took her outside, only for her to return with a torn-up squirrel carcass in between her teeth . Of course, since squirrels and other small animals were the only source of food while hiding out in a place of serial killers, Alice had to cook the meat with her pyrotechnic powers and split it with everybody.

“Who knew squirrel actually tasted this good?” Hayley asked while chomping down on the greasy meat. “This is the best meat I’ve eaten in a while.”

“Better than sealed meat in a can,” Chase remarked. “I don’t miss Tom’s crazy version of sloppy joes _at all_.”

As the Children continued to devour their dinner, Anya set her meat aside to take off her head covering. Her light, stringy blonde hair was stained with blood and her forehead was nearly purple with bruises. Lacey was the first to notice this, yelping and retreating back a little. “Who did that to you?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing…” Anya murmured, realizing her mistake. “I just slipped and fell while washing the floors. It’s nothing, really.”

“No,” Chase said firmly , “one of the heralds did that to you. What happened, Anya?”

Anya sighed sadly, trying to fight back tears. “I tried to be a little less… obedient when one of the heralds confronted me earlier,” she told the other Children. “Specifically, it was Paolo. I never liked him, after what he did…” The tears came flooding out of Anya’s eyes. “He did something so unspeakable to me and to Alice that… that I can’t even forget about it…”

Alice glanced back to the trio sadly. “See, this is the missing part of the story,” she said. “Paolo was the one who killed both of our parents the day our house went to flames. But really, it was all Albert’s fault. He was the one who planned our parents’ murder, all because he saw them as competition. And that’s not even the worst part of it. Paolo… Paolo took something very valuable of ours.”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay,” Chase said reassuringly.

“He took our innocence,” Alice said gravely.

The cellar became so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Anya was hysterically crying, curling up into a ball. Hayley looked back at the servant girl forlornly, while Lacey went down on all-fours and crawled over to her, burying her head into Anya’s shoulder.

Chase remained with Alice, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s happened to me, too,” he told her solemnly. “I had to run away from my parents because they used me like an object. I…” Chase was able to find parallels with the servants, but couldn’t put it into words. “I sympathize with those who suffered the same way as I did.”

Alice looked up at Chase. “I’m sorry.”

“These heralds are twisting us inside and out,” Chase declared, causing the girls to snap back to attention. “They’ve broken us, killed our loved ones, even manipulated us. We need to stop being so scared of them and instead fight them. If Lord Adaru wants a war, tomorrow, we’ll give him a fucking war. After all, we’re the Children of the Revolution now. We’re going to kill the dead and make this town better.”

“You’re right,” Anya said, rising back up to her feet. “I have to stop being so scared of that… of that… abuser. I tried to show him that he doesn’t bother me as much anymore, but all he does is hurt me and think that I’m his doll. I… I…” She tried to spit out the words, thinking of what was the most impossible to her. “I want to fight.”

Alice went over to her sister, wrapping her arm around her. “We’re going to give them a great fight, sis. Tomorrow is their only warning of the chaos we’re going to cause!”

Lacey howled. “I’m gonna be an avenger, baby!”

“Just think of it,” Alice began, “you’re going to disguise yourselves as servants, and then, once Lord Adaru talks about how much of an narcissist he is, we’ll break out and start killing! It’s going to be awesome!”

“And we’re going to save Katharine!” Hayley cheered.

“I miss Katharine,” Anya said worriedly. “I hope she’s okay.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Chase asked.

“We haven’t seen her for two days,” Alice said. “Ever since she went to Paolo’s film shooting, we haven’t seen her around. She’s probably stuck at the Palace.”

“So the usher has her?” Lacey inquired. Alice nodded.

“He better not be torturing her,” Chase replied angrily. “He’s the one responsible for everything that’s happened to us.”

“Julian isn’t as bad as the rest of them,” Anya told the trio. “Sometimes, Julian is rather nice to us. It’s just his vengeance that really makes him scary.”

“We’ve seen it,” Chase muttered.

“She should be back tomorrow,” Alice remembered. “To Adaru, it’s only fair if he displays the one he broke the most.”

Chase could feel his blood boiling. Every night, he would stay awake for unknown amounts of time just thinking about Katharine. He knew they were both in the same town, living the same hours, but he had no idea how she was feeling or how hurt she was. She must’ve suffered so much, Chase thought, to the point where she wishes she was in an eternal sleep. If he did see Katharine tomorrow, they, along with the Children would just run wherever their feet took them, away from the dead, away from Carey. But then, Carey would still be ridden with undead, and Lord Adaru would rise to power.

“It isn’t safe here,” Chase said under his breath.

“What, Chase?” Hayley asked, clearly hearing him.

“Uh… nothing,” Chase quickly replied. “I’m just thinking about your sister again. Hopefully she still remembers us clearly enough to get the hell out of here.”

“Oh, I know she will.” Hayley brought her knees to her chest. “I know Katharine’s strong enough to fight back against these freaks. She can’t forget our cause if it’s the most important thing to her. You know, I remember her playing a song on the guitar once… Love Hurts, I think it was called. Thinking back, it sort of describes where we are now.”

“The Nazareth song?” Chase asked. Hayley nodded. “Oh yeah, I love that song. I miss her voice… she thought she couldn’t sing, but she sounded as pure as an angel. If only I could hear her melodies that soothed me again… they helped with forgetting the pain . Your sister really changed me, Hayley. You know, I think I feel stronger now, helping you and Lace find her. She’s taught me a very valuable thing.”

Hayley smiled warmly. “That’s my sister for you. She’s such a great teacher. Hopefully she’ll teach the undead a thing or two about messing on mortal turf.”

Chase exchanged the smile. “That’s the spirit.”

* * *

**KATHARINE**

Julian's lair. 9:22 pm.

Katharine woke up in the same place she’s been stuck in for the past day: the same, swan-shaped bed, with the same, hellish harpsichord music deafening her sense of sound. Only now, she knew exactly where she was, and who was keeping her: the very person she needed to see the most, although she still relented him. Katharine had a gut feeling that Julian was lying about being a rebel; this was a façade he put on just to win her trust. Yet, another part of her thought that Julian was genuine, that he no longer wanted his vengeance to define him.

Using her hands, Katharine lifted herself from off the bed. It pained her greatly, her wound still open, but bandaged tightly. She hobbled over to the closet, trying to find one of the mysterious dresses to wear. She still wore Julian’s jacket and the skirt she wore to Paolo’s film shooting, which reeked of blood. Her hand fell upon a basic dress, a beige one with a rose print design. It wasn’t her usual style, but Katharine changed out of the old clothes and into the new anyway.

After tying her hair up into a loose ponytail with a nearby ribbon, Katharine left her cage. Julian was seated at his harpsichord, now playing a somber tune . Despite how booming and menacing the piece sounded, Katharine felt her heart soar. She hadn’t listened to music since the day Julian infiltrated ZAP, only hearing the cruel words and orders from the heralds. In a way, this piece was defining her emotions – saddened but strong. It was fitting perfectly.

Katharine walked over to the edge of the harpsichord, watching as Julian put passion into his piece. He was a skilled player, she noticed, and perhaps he did this when he wasn’t protectively ushering over film screenings. The piece was written down on several sheets of yellowing paper, browning at the creases from age. As Katharine reached out her hand to turn the page for him, Julian’s gloved hand suddenly stopped her.

“Oh, sorry,” Katharine muttered as the usher turned to her.

“You don’t have to be,” Julian replied. “I was done rehearsing the piece anyway. Did you happen to like it, Katharine?”

“I, uh… I did, actually,” Katharine confessed. “It’s just… it was touching.”

“Touching?” he asked in curiosity. “How so?”

“It just kind of fits with everything that’s going on right now,” Katharine told him. “I haven’t heard music since you closed ZAP down. This is the first piece of music I heard while undead, and it just… fits.”

“Oh, that’s very interesting.” Julian rose from his seat. “My music hasn’t been called… fitting by anyone, ever.”

“Do you write in your spare time or something?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He gestured to Katharine that he’d be going aboveground, back to the theater. Katharine followed him as he continued. “Sometimes, music is the only other way I can tame my vengeance.”

“Like the Phantom of the Opera?”

Julian paused upon the mention of his favorite film, a smile fighting for its way on his face. “Exactly.”

They stopped next to the concession desk. Katharine winced as she noticed Jay still bearing a carved grin, although he had placed a bandage over the worst part of it. His brown eyes glanced sadly in recognition of Katharine, shyly waving to her. She smiled sadly, waving back as Julian brought her into the same screening room that Paolo used for his shooting. The corpses of Katharine’s former schoolmates were gone, but the traps still remained, still stained of blood and gore.

“Paolo is never allowed to step foot in here ever again,” Julian told Katharine as he noticed her staring at the traps in a triggered horror. “I do appreciate him taking a cue from the Jigsaw Killer, but I still don’t condone the shooting of such films in my theater.”

“You were right when you said pornographic,” Katharine said as they found seats in the third row. “Not that kind of pornographic, but… pornographic as in shocking, titillating… forced others to do his bidding for the art of film.”

“Paolo’s always been like that, not letting people die through karma instead of self-harm. He’s almost cheating the system, forcing innocents to sacrifice themselves. Yet, Adaru still allows it…”

There was an awkward silence as Katharine tried to think of things to say. She was alone with the person she still felt like was on the bad side, but she knew getting to know the enemy was the best way to torture the enemy. But, her mind was always going back and forth, thinking that Julian actually did care one minute or was just acting the next. Elsa’s words stung her mind; she needed to talk to him, strategize with him, and make plans for the next rebellion.

“Uh, Julian?” Katharine began. “Why did you… save me from him? I could’ve very well been slashed by Lady Luck and thrown into the streets to die or something, but—“

“We need our fighter,” Julian replied firmly. “If the undead are going to revolt against the demon that broke us and is trying to use us, then we need someone who will understand just as much. When you worked for the… undead hunting industry, you wanted Adaru dead just as much as the rest of us.”

“Still do,” Katharine remarked.

“Of course, the plans for rebellion that Elsa and I made have existed for quite a long time. It was just that… perhaps you could say that some of my confidence comes from my height.”

Katharine chuckled. “So you were a little worried about the plans?”

“No, no, that’s not it… it was just… difficult to find someone to lead us on. Rather, to usher us on.” “You could’ve easily done it,” Katharine said. She paused, realizing what Julian was trying to say. “Wait a second. Those times when you watched over me and my comrades fighting the Kerezans… you, uh… actually saw me as a good leader figure?” Julian smiled ferally, nodding. “That’s why you were watching me! You had the plans in your head and needed someone to carry them out! I mean, I was killing the Kerezans, but that—“

“You were killing them out of mercy,” Julian replied. “Trust me, I can speak for a mass of them, and they desired to be dead than in Adaru’s increasing power. Although I did see it as wrong at first, but remember Katharine, I went to the Awareness Program that night to protect you and the business.”

“Still wasn’t an excuse to hurt my dad, though,” Katharine added sadly.

“Well…” Julian felt terrible, but had no idea what to say. “Vengeance easily influences my decisions, Katharine. It is not an easy task to control invoking my vengeance while trying to be a genuinely nice person. Adaru… he toys with my mind, trying to get the best of what I am required to embody. He does it with everybody. Some of us are rather… frightful of him, but he only feeds off of it. He just wants us to play our parts, and then, he will discard of us once he’s received all of his power.”

“So the undead have feelings, too,” Katharine realized.

“Which is why we have to fight him,” Julian continued. “Why do you think I’m so lively in an abandoned movie theater stuck decades into the past, Katharine? This is where I have the most freedom, the most…” He briefly paused. “Love. Adaru is trying to take it away from all of us. He is trying to endanger the undead by taking away our only protection. Some of us need it to endure eternity.”

“If only you told me about all of this… why didn’t you alone stop me sooner? You had to wait for somebody to tell you, and then it led me to becoming undead…”

“It was Adaru’s word. Although I wish to rebel against him, I—“

“Fuck him, Julian!” Katharine found herself shouting. “Who cares about what the demon wants anymore? We’re going to fight him on Halloween. I don’t care what fucked up fate he has for me, but I’m ready to fight against him and show him that I’m not weak! And you know what? I want you to be with me, at my side. Together we can stop him.”

His cold, gloved hand met hers, which made Katharine shoot up in alarm. “That’s what Elsa and I wanted to hear,” Julian told her encouragingly. “We knew the fighter in you hasn’t quite left.”

“It’ll never leave me,” Katharine told him. “The others can beat me, torture me, manipulate me, but they’ll never change my mind. I want Adaru’s ass dead as possible for trying to do something so stupid like trying to rid entirely of humanity. It’s not going to happen, and… maybe I want the helpless dead protected, too.”

As Julian escorted Katharine out of the infamous screening room, he reminded her of one important idea. “If we’re going to attempt to overthrow Adaru’s power, we’re going to need an army.”

“Comrades?” Katharine raised an eyebrow.

“I suppose you can call them that.” They strolled over to the concessions desk, where Jay was restocking Skittles along with a lanky young man with dark auburn hair and freckles. “I’d like you to meet two of your new comrades, Katharine. Their names are Jay and Oliver.”

“I believe I’ve already been acquainted with Jay,” Katharine remembered as Jay turned to face her. “How’s the wound doing, Jay? I’m really sorry to hear someone as heartless like Paolo did that to you.”

“It’s actually starting to heal,” Jay replied, holding his hand to the wound. It hurt him whenever he spoke, and gave him a slight speech impediment. “Kerezans’ wounds tend to heal faster than any other legion.”

Katharine smiled, perhaps the first genuine one in a while. “That’s good to hear. I was getting really worried.” She focused her attention on Oliver next. “And you, are you all right, too? Do you have any wounds I’m going to need to check?”

“Thankfully, I’m still mortal,” Oliver said shyly. “I’ve got no idea how, but I’m doing fantastic so far.”

“Just make sure Jay doesn’t bite you, then,” Katharine told him sarcastically.

“Oh, I make sure he doesn’t. I actually have to wear extra protection sometimes.” Oliver lifted his shirt sleeve to show Katharine a plastic shield around his arm. “The plastic comes in handy.”

Julian placed his hand on Katharine’s shoulder. “Come, Katharine. I need to let you acquaintance yourself with the other ushers before opening. Ms. Roxy Crane is very excited to meet you… she never stops talking about it.”

“I’m happy to hear I’ve got a little bit of a cult following around here,” Katharine said in amusement, following Julian upstairs to the giant screening room above. “It’s almost like… it’s almost like you told them about my work, how you see me as a leader. And judging from what I’ve heard out of you, you have.”

Julian smiled bashfully. “You’ve caught me, Katharine.”

She smirked. “Thought so.”

* * *

**CHASE**

10:30 pm.

As the girls were occupied with chatting and helping the servants repair old ballroom dresses for the ball, Chase had managed to doze off in a long nap. He felt himself tossing and turning, a sharp pain forming in his sides as he dreamed the inevitable. The images that came to him as nightmares were trying to give him false hope; it was only his anxiety reaching out to him again, trying to get him to fear what couldn’t possibly happen.

In the nightmare, he saw an elaborate ballroom with a winding staircase and several chandeliers; the Caine manor’s ballroom, rarely used except in the case when Cindy decided to hold a tea party of high importance, or when Dr. Caine hosts his parties, as Anya told him. Several undead couples danced in the center, their ballgowns swishing in time with the orchestral music. Paolo stood away from the action, filming it as Lady Luck whispered sweet nothings in his ear. The other heralds were scattered around the room, talking to each other and drinking chilled blood like it was a fine wine.

And then, out of nowhere, the demon stood, towering over the others with his muscular physique. He smiled almost as if it were a grimace, Chase noticed. Adaru stepped off to the right, revealing a pale girl with black hair done in an elegant high twist. Her yellow eyes looked around the room confidently, and she briefly brought her hands down to fluff out her sheer, high-collared black gown . She was smiling too, her lips stained with blood.

 _That’s not Katharine_ , Chase thought as his dream-self approached her. _Katharine isn’t this creepy. She’d be slashing these undead freaks’ throats!_

“Kat?” Chase asked his lover, the one who saved him from his darkest times. “Is… is that you?”

Katharine’s amber eyes pierced into his. “Oh my god, Chase!” she exclaimed. “You’ve come! I knew you’d be here!”

“Me and the girls hid out with Anya and Alice for a few days,” he informed her, reaching out his arms to embrace her. Katharine stepped back, hissing and recoiling back. Something was definitely off about her. “Kat, what’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“You’re still mortal,” Katharine said lowly. “This is a party for the undead elite only. How did you get past?”

“I… uh…”

“It doesn’t matter. I need your blood anyway, and your soul, too.”

Almost with supersonic speed, Katharine latched onto Chase, and tackled him down to the ground. Her Strengoit fangs met the flesh of his neck, and in an instant, he had started to bleed out, but Katharine’s soft, chapped lips wiped the blood away. She laughed heartily, looking up at the demon. “Seven souls left, my lord.”

“Excellent, my queen to be.” Adaru murmured, bending down to examine the newly claimed soul. “I will rise to power very, very soon.”

“And we will be married!” Katharine added excitedly.

As Chase’s life slipped away, he heard the demon and Katharine laugh, taunting him as he succumbed to death. Adaru was gaining power, and in the process, he had corrupted the only girl he ever loved and could trust. The Katharine he knew was dead. She had become one of _them_.

Chase woke up screaming, his body soaked with sweat. These undead freaks needed to be dead, dead, _**dead**_.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	21. It's the Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine finds out Adaru's true intents for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of my favorite chapters to write! We're getting to the really climatic stuff here, folks. Anyway, you could say that Adaru's ways of getting Katharine to his side easily mirrors those of his cousin, the Lord of Darkness, so this chapter was heavily inspired by Lily and Darkness's first meeting in Legend. Can't give too much away here. Enjoy!

**19\. It's the Fear**

**KATHARINE**

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010. Julian's lair. 2:37 am.

 

Katharine found it hard to fall asleep as the Strengoit curse took over her. She stared up at the ceiling, trying to entertain herself by mentally connecting the cracks in her mind. Ever since becoming undead, her sleep schedule was erratic. She was a Strengoit, a vampire, and she should be dwelling in the night, finding prey. But, there was no one as she was still confined to this antique bedroom, and the only thing she could do was fall asleep, or at least try.

Julian was in the theater, the aboveground as he called it, ushering over a screening of _From Dusk Till Dawn_. Katharine found it rather strange that a movie theater would be open this late at night, but apparently, the undead liked to flock to the theater and watch films, laughing over how their legion was depicted. She wished she could be down there talking to Julian, getting to know more of who he was. However, he took his job of being an usher very seriously, so she couldn’t distract him. Jay and Oliver, her new comrades, were just the same, as they needed to monitor their concessions carefully so they weren’t stolen by sugar-craving Morphans.

As she flipped over on her other side, Katharine’s mind still flooded with thoughts of Chase, Lacey, and Hayley. Where were they now? Who was alive and who was undead? Would they be at the party that Julian kept on bringing up tomorrow? She felt a tear slide down her cheek; they probably would shun her for being undead, and especially for befriending Julian. In the end, she didn’t care if they hated her now for oversleeping and not escaping with them; her best friends and her little sister were still the most important people in the world to her.

Katharine looked in the direction of her wardrobe to see several shimmering, silver objects lying among the bottles of perfume. She couldn't recall ever seeing these things. Perhaps Julian had found these things and left them here for her as a gift for her gratitude? She rose from her bed and went over to the wardrobe, carefully opening a small, silver chest that lay in the center. The first thing her finger fell upon was a looped, silver necklace crafted from the purest diamonds.

“I can’t…” Katharine murmured. “This thing’s probably worth one grand, easy.”

Katharine’s ears perked up at the sound of someone in her head saying, “Give in to your temptation.”

Slightly freaked out, Katharine gingerly placed the silver necklace in her hands, playing with it a little before putting it on. It created a second light in the room, illuminating her face brightly in the mirror. Katharine dug through the chest some more and found a pair of matching earrings and a small pearl headdress for her hair. She was hesitant towards jewelry, but after remembering that she never really had times to make herself look and feel pretty, Katharine put on the earrings and barrette.

“Shiny,” Katharine said to herself, chuckling.

Katharine was then startled by two pairs of velvety black hands wrapping around her throat. The mysterious hands moved up to her head, patting it gently almost in a kind gesture. They soon traveled downward, stroking Katharine’s jaw briefly before ripping off the rose-print dress with one pull. She was very close to being nude, but it wasn’t before long when the cold hands stroked her bare flesh and somehow formed a stretchy black leotard on her with just their touch.

“What the fuck?” was all Katharine could say.

 _Make her one of us_ , a high, feminine voice sang from nowhere.

More hands appeared from the shadows, preparing Katharine’s image for reasons unbeknownst to her. Two pairs of hands were working on the top, styling Katharine’s hair in a high twist. Another pair ran their fingers on Katharine’s eyelids and lips, staining them with black, while a group of three created Katharine’s dress, a skirt of black taffeta and a wide, triangular black collar. A final pair draped a long silver sash over Katharine’s right shoulder, which was then pinned down to her hip.

As the hands prepared her for reasons unknown, Katharine was unnerved by a choir of mesmerizing voices whispering in her ear. "Bride of Fear, Lady of the Night, you mustn’t keep up with your inner fight. Release the demons and hide your shame, for you will receive your true power and your fame. The undead world is not built from fear... there is beauty and darkness here."

"This is another one of Adaru's tricks, isn't it?" Katharine said under her breath.

A hand covered her mouth, silencing her. "Give into your temptation," the choir sang.

When Katharine looked in the mirror, her new appearance frightened her. She was dark all over, the only light coming from her shimmering jewelry. The hands that prepared her were running their fingers over every bit of exposed flesh, and the choir continued to whisper gibberish in her ear. It was only when the owners of the hands turned their heads did Katharine recognize them as the shadow wraiths Eddie had spoken about once. They were Adaru’s children, soulless children of the damned.

“Queen,” they whispered, their lantern-like faces glowing brightly.

Suddenly, the mirror shattered and the room began to shake. As the room broke into pieces, the wraiths and Katharine descended into the ground like weightless ghosts, floating downward as their surroundings took on that of the cavernous rock of Adaru’s underground lair. Katharine landed right in front of a familiar throne of skull and bones, lowering her head down to avoid looking at her demonic enemy.

“Katharine…” she heard the demon growl in satisfaction.

“No!” Katharine screamed, hiding her face. “Get away from me!”

“I only wanted to see you,” Adaru replied, forcing her head up with an unknown, telekinetic force. Katharine glared at him through her heavily made-up eyes, which only made the demon chuckle. “You still retain that rebellious spite in you. It never really died, has it not? Fear not, for it will be eliminated soon.”

Katharine didn’t speak, still catatonic with the amount of fear that Adaru savored. She staggered, leaning against a rock as Adaru approached her, his brambly hand out to touch her. She bit her lip and held her breath as Adaru twisted a lock of hair around his finger. When she looked at him again, his ugly face was merely inches away from hers. Katharine screamed as she squirmed, no longer able to move as the demon trapped her.

“Katharine…” Adaru whispered. “I mean you no harm.” “Get away from me!” Katharine attempted to push the demon out of the way, but he didn’t budge.

“I only wanted to ask you if you like my gifts,” Adaru said as he played with Katharine’s silver sash. “They look divine on you. And what about the dress? It was given to me by my cousin, the Lord of Darkness himself, just for you.”

“I hate this dress!” Katharine shouted. “I don’t care if Satan made it for me!” Then, it hit her.

The shadow wraiths dressed her and prepared her because she was going to be Adaru’s queen.

She was being forced to _marry_ him.

Adaru chuckled. “You speak so of your wedding gown,” he confirmed. “The heralds and I have decided that you are indeed my true mate. You are the only one worthy of becoming my Queen, for your fate and your fear alone. Your blood will keep me alive for these next cycles, and your flesh will assist me in creating my heir…”

“You’re repulsive!” Katharine screamed through gritted teeth. “I’ll never be your Queen, you narcissistic fuck!”

“No more so than you are!” Adaru roared, shooting dark twine from his hand. Katharine screamed again, but the twine completely covered her mouth. “You have fought and killed my legions, but now… now I sense something more in you. Haven’t you always wanted power, Katharine? Perhaps fame, more respect? I will give it to you. I will give it all to you.

“All I ask is for you to join me, become my Queen. We can reign over all of fear together. Those you want dead will fall at my hand. I will protect you from the undead who want nothing but your flesh and your intelligent, strategic mind. Katharine…. I will offer you everything I have. My heart, my soul… my love.”

Adaru took the twine off of Katharine’s mouth. “Love?” she asked incredulously. “Like I would ever love a monster like you!”

“I have heard you say you would do anything to protect your family and your friends. Do what is right for them. I will give them their undivided freedom if you marry me.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

Adaru took something small and teal-colored from out of his pelt. It was a seeing stone, a common object owned by most necromancers. It allowed him to see anything he could possibly want to see from the past, present, and future, all by uttering a single person’s name. “Just look into the stone and say anyone’s name. It will show you anyone you desire to see, at any given moment in time.”

Katharine brought the stone so that the middle of it, a wide hole framed her eye. “I’d like to see Chase Killian in the future, please.”

At once, the hole replaced Katharine’s current surroundings with one she was unfamiliar with. It was a warm home, with a crackling fireplace and a window covered with frost. It was a harsh winter, the zombies lumbering in the cold, collapsing and moaning in pain. But, Chase, Hayley, and Lacey weren’t outside fighting them. Instead, they were sipping on hot chocolate and laughing amongst each other, as if the dead outside their window were merely a common nuisance.

“They’re safe,” Katharine whispered to herself. “They’re alive and they’re safe.”

“I know it’s only December, but it’s felt like forever since I’ve seen her,” Katharine heard future Chase tell Lacey and Hayley mournfully. “She became that freak’s queen for us. It was the last thing I’ve ever seen her say and do, and now, she’s… gone. We’re dead to her now.”

“Her story can’t be forgotten,” Lacey added in the midst of writing something down in a notebook. “Elsa told me, remember? She said that’s my new goal, to be a scribe for the Undead War and to document the past so it’s not just a prologue… or some weird cryptic phrase I don’t remember.”

“At least that’s somewhat better than being Dr. Caine’s apprentice,” Chase told Lacey. “I’m surrounded with dead bodies all the time that I sometimes question why I’m not with them.” This made Katharine start to tear up. Chase once vowed he’d rather die than see Katharine taken advantage of by their enemies. Look where they were now.

“Julian’s always talking about her,” Hayley said, tugging at her usherette blouse sleeve. “He always says he hired me just because I’m the only person left from her family. Sometimes, when he sees me, he cries.”

“That undead usher cries?” Chase chortled.

“Don’t you remember what I found out, Chase?” Lacey asked a bit angrily. “He—“

Before Lacey could finish her sentence, the image faded, showing Katharine the ground beneath her again. She looked up at Adaru, her eyes filled with tears. “If I married you, you’d guarantee that they’d be safe and mutually allied with your heralds?” she asked.

“The war would still occur,” Adaru answered, “but yes, your comrades would have guaranteed safety among the heralds. When you will become my Queen, the heralds will become more… open-armed. They will only do it in gratitude for your sacrifice. There’s more you need to see. Go on and watch.”

Katharine pressed the stone to her eye again and watched as images of the future unraveled. Jack and Chance were running the Carnival of Carnage, watching as the undead flocked and took delight in a sideshow where a mortal hung from hooks in the skin of his back. Albert had found a cure to a virus circulating among the Maschorians, and now, they were their nearly insane and belligerent selves again. Paolo and Lady Luck were sacrificing another innocent soul by tying him up and having Strengoits bite at him, while Elsa was teaching Lacey about the forming of the legions.

The images stopped suddenly. “But what about Julian?” Katharine asked.

“Why do you need to know about the usher?” Lord Adaru growled.

“Because… he’s my comrade, too.”

Adaru gestured for Katharine to continue watching. She watched in shock as the future Julian was sobbing over something in his hands. Upon a closer look, it was something slightly yellowing and crinkled with age.

A wedding gown.

“I don’t get it…” Katharine whispered to herself. “Why does he…”

“I suppose you’re wondering what will happen to you,” Adaru told Katharine, quickly taking the stone away from her. “You’ve seen what will happen to your friends and enemies, but you’re still curious about how the world will soon bow at your feet. I cannot show you that now, but it shall come to you. Now… what is your answer, Katharine? Will you marry me to save the ones who matter most to you?”

Katharine’s brows furrowed as she tried to think. She couldn’t marry this monster, the creature responsible for the overthrowing of ZAP and all the torture she recently endured. Marrying the enemy was not the final solution; destroying him was. But manipulation was the strongest part in this game she played against him, Lady Luck, and the heralds. What if she turned the tables and acted like she cared?

What if she pretended to succumb to the Order of Fear?

Katharine looked up at Adaru, a sly smirk on her black painted lips. “I’ll marry you,” she answered, her voice taking on a sudden regal tone, “but on one condition.”

“Anything,” Adaru replied, trying to hide his obvious arousal.

Katharine paused. She was playing a dangerous game now, and this may be the only opportunity to save the boy who loved her, the one who needed the most love in the most broken of times. “I want to kill Chase Killian personally.”

“And why him, my Lady?”

Katharine sighed. “The mortals who loved me need to learn I’ve changed now. I’m afraid Chase will not accept that I am soon to be crowned your Queen. The only way out of his suffering is death.”

And to play Adaru’s game, the only way to commence the fight was giving in to sweet old temptation.

 

 

 


	22. Charnel's Ball, Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events that occur at the Caine Manor's Annual All Hallows' Eve Ball;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usual trigger warnings are in effect. This is gonna be a good one, folks!

**20\. Charnel's Ball (Part One)**

**Caine manor ballroom, 10:00 pm.  
**

**CHASE, LACEY, AND HAYLEY**

“You guys remember what to do, right?” Alice asked the trio as the huge grandfather clock chimed ten times.

The trio and their servant friends stood in the Caine manor ballroom’s atrium, repeatedly going over their slightly altered plans. Rather than the trio pretending to be newly hired servants, they decided that it would be better to disguise themselves as elite undead to get into the heart of the ball. Anya and Alice did the trio’s makeup with nothing but eye paints and powders so they could convincingly appear like restless corpses. It did the job fairly well, in their opinion, except for the moments when Lacey got irritated and scratched some of the makeup off.

“I think so,” Chase replied with certainty. “Adaru is going to introduce Katharine to the dead and say some stuff about her. Then, when she’s dancing with him, we’ll silently start to attack. Am I right?”

“Mostly,” Anya responded as she redid her head covering. “Don’t forget to start slow and watch your back. Adaru’s probably going to have a bunch of Baccanoid soldiers in there for protection. Oh, and keep Lacey under control! She’s been scratching at herself like a dog.” She glanced down at the wolfgirl, who was now on her preferred all fours and clawing the ground.

“I’m becoming more of a wolf, you know,” Lacey sneered as she noticed Anya staring at her.

“You might want to take on your Maschorian side, if you can,” Hayley advised Lacey. “They’re not going to want to see mutations in there, let alone Cerebins.”

“Good point,” Lacey replied, jumping to her feet. She wore a dark brown ballgown with black accents, which would easily hide and camouflage the thickening, honey-blonde fur on her arms and legs. “Let’s go in before the full moon calls my name again.”

“Good luck, you guys!” Anya loudly whispered as two male doormen opened the wide double doors to the ballroom, letting the false undead pass.

“Sis, what did I tell you about saying ‘good luck’?” Alice sighed, shaking her head as she and Anya headed to the kitchens.

Hayley clutched onto Chase’s hand nervously as they wandered inside, passing the waltzing, masked Strengoits and Baccanoids. They wore clean, elegant ballgowns and suits, which contrasted with their somewhat rotting bodies and hideous, grotesque faces. All that was on Chase’s mind was how Katharine would look and act, whether or not she’d be like how she appeared in his nightmare. Undead or not, Chase knew in his heart that it was his duty to protect Katharine, just like she taught him how to protect himself. The thought resonated within him as he squeezed Hayley’s hand reassuringly.

The ballroom held a hidden, once glorious grandeur now coated with dust and stained with blood. There were huge candles scattered among the room with human faces melted into the pure white wax. Morphans were hounding over tables of questionable looking dishes that the servants had started to bring out, while the Strengoits were doing their best to stay away from the bloodied punch bowl. A decrepit elderly Kerezan was situated in one of the farthest corners of the room, loudly playing a pipe organ. To some, this ball was a gothic dream come true, but to others, this was only once upon a nightmare.

Hayley was nearly startled by a young Morphan boy she accidentally bumped into. He hid his face behind a tiger mask and wore a crisp, dark blue suit. His brown eyes expressed just as much nervousness as she did, made quite obvious by the awkward swinging of his pumpkin shaped bucket. “Hey there,” he said to Hayley, “your dress matches my suit! Blue’s a pretty color, isn’t it?”

“I suppose!” Hayley replied, unsure of what to say to this boy. She recognized him as one of the Morphans near the Universal Palace some nights ago. Luckily, he didn’t seem to recognize her, either.

“Do you, uh…” the Morphan started to ask shyly. “Would you like to dance with me, miss?” Hayley looked back at Chase, who quickly nodded in approval.

“I’d love to.”

As Hayley was whirled around the ballroom, Chase stopped in his tracks. He noticed a few of the heralds standing off to the side, watching the celebration. Albert stood with Jack, conversing about potential matters of death, while Paolo and Lady Luck stood in another corner, moments away from making out in front of everybody. Chase felt his blood boil. After what he heard about Paolo breaking Anya, Alice, and possibly Katharine, he wanted to throttle the director right into the wall.

“Can they not?” Lacey scoffed, noticing how deep Paolo’s kiss to his beloved was. “Gross! I didn’t go that hardcore when I was in public!”

“Lacey,” Chase whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder, “that’s the guy that made Kat a Strengoit.”

“What?” Lacey growled loudly. This got her some glares from a few pairs of dancing Strengoits, their yellow eyes hungry for blood. “Sorry, nothing to see here. Keep on dancing, you guys are great!”

“You’re always the right person to save your own ass,” Chase and Lacey filed through another throng of undead, trying to look discreet.

“Hey, I do it to protect myself.” Lacey nuzzled her face into her shoulder, trying to scratch an itch. “It’s what got me through most of high school. Douchebag boys, nearly drunken fights…”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “Nearly drunken fights in high school?”

“It’s all about experimenting with that booze,” Lacey sighed. “Too much of it, and you go crazy, especially if your bitch of an ex-girlfriend is screwing with your current one. Well, back then, anyway.”

“Well, if you see something that triggers your inner beast, try to restrain yourself around me and Hayley. We both know how much you want some flesh to snack on, but we’re friends, not food. This isn’t a drunken—“

“Okay, Mr. Killian, I’ve got it! Jeez. I’m like the only undead person who’s got some sort of limits here!” She shuffled her paws. “Say, uh, do you want to dance so these Strengoits stop staring at us?”

“Uh, sure,” Chase agreed awkwardly. Watching a dancing couple for a brief second, he led Lacey into an impromptu waltz, one that contained many misses and clumsy footwork. Chase almost tripped on his own feet while spinning around Lacey, something that made her howl with laughter.

“Look how stupid we look!” Lacey remarked with glee. “We can’t really match the elegance of the Strengoits, huh?”

“Who knew the dead could be so fancy?” Chase replied. “Guess they’re trying to experience the life they never had.”

* * *

**JULIAN**

“How has Katharine been lately?” Elsa asked Julian, her eyes wandering over to the action just in case their master decided to make his grand entrance. They stood in a corner far away from the extroverted action of the ball, unwilling to join the legions in celebrating their master.

“I think I have finally gotten her to understand,” Julian replied, his milky eye situated on two familiar young adults as they dance a clumsy waltz. “She seemed a little more… eager to get the plan initiated. But at the same time, she is still forlorn, clinging onto the past.”

“That is to be expected,” Elsa said. “Unfortunately, she will have to let it go soon if she wants to remain sane during this war. If she doesn’t, the past will eventually destroy her so much that she will go catatonic.”

“Her comrades happen to be in attendance this evening.” Julian noticed that Katharine’s former lover Chase had returned his glare, his blue eyes burning in hatred as he strolled across the dance floor with a girl who acted suspiciously like a mutation of Cerebin and Maschorian. She was sniffing the shoulders of some of the partygoers, much to Chase’s dismay.

“Oh, now isn’t that nice? We can inform them of the plan!” Elsa suggested. “We have to show them that we are not as evil as we appear to be.”

“Yes, but how exactly? They wouldn’t believe us, especially me. I was the one who mistreated Katharine that night, the one that led her to her—“

“Julian!” He was surprised to hear Lady Luck call out for him. She sauntered to his side rather drunkenly, clinging onto Paolo’s arm. “What a pleasure to see you here! I always thought you were never the… uh… partying type.”

“I am only here on herald duties, my lady,” Julian replied stiffly.

“Oh, _right_. How about you lead me into a dance on the floor while I talk to you about some important… issues that Adaru wanted me to bring up with you.” Luck glanced over at Paolo, a sly grin on her face. Perhaps she knew of his growing affections for Katharine. “Besides, Paolo wanted to talk to his mother, anyway. He needs to—“

Before the goddess could speak any more words, the organist stopped his music, and everyone hushed their voices and turned to the direction of the grand staircase. Lord Adaru himself stood in the center, dressed in a hooded scarlet robe. He held a scepter carved from bone and topped with a skull, while his face was covered with an elaborate skeletal mask crowned with antlers. Tonight, he was more than the Lord of Fear; he was dressed as the Red Death, the personification of plague and pestilence.

“Rather fitting he dresses up as one of Poe’s characters, isn’t it?” Elsa whispered to Julian.

“At this rate, he’s going to become one of _Lovecraft’s_ characters if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut,” Julian retorted. The usher watched in disgust as his master began his speech.

“My friends and people,” Lord Adaru bellowed, “I would like to welcome you to the forty-eighth annual All Hallows’ Eve ball, hosted by my herald of death, Dr. Albert Caine!” There was an enormous applause as the Baccanoid doctor briefly revealed himself and bowed. “Now, as you may know, this is no ordinary ball this cycle. We are here to celebrate my ascension to power, when I will soon plague the entire world with fear! Dr. Caine, just how many souls are left to be claimed?”

“Eight, my lord!” Albert shouted from where he stood in the ballroom.

 _Eight more pitiful souls_ , Julian thought to himself, and two of them are in this room right now, their hearts about to be broken. Earlier, Julian walked into Katharine’s bedroom to see she had disappeared, lured in through fashions lent to Adaru by his demonic cousin, the Lord of Darkness. One of Adaru’s soulless children, an odd spirit that at least seemed to tolerate his presence, informed him Katharine was only acting to please Adaru tonight. She wouldn’t let herself go to his side.

At least, he hoped.

“Yes, eight more souls will need to be claimed by Sunday evening,” Lord Adaru continued. “I predict that there are still some rebels roaming in Carey, and they must be stopped! You persons of the undead have done a brilliant job with the ones that have ceased to exist already. However, there are two certain souls that I’d like handed to me personally.”

A Caine manor servant unraveled a long roll of parchment for the demon, holding it high for the entire audience to see. Scribbled in ink were highly detailed portraits of Katharine’s lover and younger sister, with words and phrases such as ‘undead assassins’ and ‘the rogue gallery’ written underneath. There was chatter among the legions as they struggled to recall actually seeing these rebels previously, although with deader looking faces.

“If any of you manage to stumble across Chase Killian or Hayley Romero, I will graciously welcome you to the Order of Fear as a special advisor,” Lord Adaru told his people. “Fortuna and I can give you anything you possibly desire if these two souls are claimed by Sunday evening. If not, then these nineteen cycles of waiting will be a waste once more…” Adaru growled in anger at the thought.

“My lord!” Luck exclaimed, rushing to Adaru’s side. “Those souls are not of high importance at this moment! We have a special someone to introduce!”

Adaru seemed to brighten up, but Julian felt himself darken. “Furthermore, we have a special guest in attendance this evening. Perhaps you may know her as the leader of the rebels, with her afterlife banishing Zombie Awareness Program.” A few noises of disgust were made. “However, the program has disbanded permanently. We have imprisoned her and she is now a Strengoit, a child of the night. Her transformation is simply remarkable. Her innocence is slowly fading as the darkness is taking over her. She has willingly accepted her fate, and now, I am pleased to announce that she will become my Queen on the very night when I will live again!”

The undead remained silent with baited breath as Katharine, clad all in black, appeared at the top of the staircase. Her ebony hair was up in a high twist and her lips and eyes were stained with black. She wore a black gown with a high, triangular collar, and a skirt of black flowing fabric; a silver necklace and sash gave the smallest amount of light to her. She had a keen smirk on her face as she walked down the stairs without looking down, smiling at her potential undead subjects.

As Lord Adaru took Katharine’s hand in his, Julian’s felt fear race through him. Adaru smiled toothily in his direction; he knew his herald did not like the sight of his muse so corrupted. This wasn’t the Katharine he called his muse, the one who inspired him to act out. _This is only a façade_ , Julian tried reminding himself, but something told him this was too good to be true.

Adaru was rather skilled at using manipulation and temptation to woo people over to his side. He lured them in with gifts or promises he would never keep, only to outright steal the person’s soul and use them as some sort of puppet. The smile plastered on Katharine’s face was fake, but the fire that sparkled in her eyes said otherwise. Julian wasn’t sure what the fire would consider – her rebellious nature, or her devotion to Adaru?

Relief filled him as their eyes met. The fire in Katharine’s eyes died, her amber orbs growing softer. She was gesturing toward something, someone in the crowd she recognized. Julian could’ve sworn he heard her whisper, “They can’t see me like this.”

And he would do his duty of chivalry.

 


	23. Charnel's Ball, Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine struggles to hold on to herself at the Caine manor's ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a MAJOR character death in this chapter! Other than that, the usual trigger warnings are in effect. Good luck surviving through this one.

**20\. Charnel's Ball (Part Two)**

**KATHARINE**

Although Katharine knew she had to play as a compliant Queen to be now, her mind still remained that of a mischievous rebel. Her eyes scanned the crowd, trying to find a familiar face to no avail. She didn’t recognize anyone among the sexy vampires or noble Baccanoids, or even the fidgeting, impatient Morphans that were trying to shove candy in their mouths discreetly. When her eyes fell upon the center of the crowd, she almost screamed in excitement as she thought she saw Chase and Lacey, wearing garish zombie makeup like it was for Halloween.

She briefly turned her head and saw Julian standing with Elsa, watching her in concern. Hopefully the child of Adaru’s she spoke to earlier informed him that she didn’t succumb to Adaru so easily. She cocked her head toward the center of the crowd, and whispered to him, “They can’t see me like this.”

Katharine was startled back to attention when Lord Adaru wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She quickly turned her head to the demon and smiled sickly. From the looks of her audience, the heralds and the legions were shocked at her sudden transformation. She was the rebellious fighter to them before, but now, she was to be the seductive and manipulative Queen.

“Yes, my subjects, who you see before you was once Katharine Romero, the leader of the rebels. But now, she is my betrothed, after several endless cycles of trying to find myself a Queen! Her warlike strength and cunning has earned her a spot in the nominations, but she has ultimately won over my heart after I watched her spirit blossom. I will tell you that Katharine is not the frightened, repulsive girl we have seen before. She has become… ravishing.”

“My lord, you don’t need to say that!” Katharine said airily.

As Adaru kept on going with his Katharine, she watched as Hayley joined Chase and Lacey where they stood in the throngs. She was horrified to see what her little sister so scared and upset, staring up at Chase with wide eyes. Chase shook his head and mimicked a knife sliding against someone’s throat with his finger. A sign that soon, the rebels would take action.

Lord Adaru slid a ring topped with bloody red rubies on Katharine’s left ring finger. “Consider this another wedding gift, my love,” he told her. “It symbolizes that you were once a foolish, innocent mortal who knew nothing of our ways. But when you will be crowned my Queen, all of your former memories will disappear, as you will become stronger, the ultimate immortal.”

Katharine mimed gushing over the ring, flaunting it in the face of Lady Luck. But deep down inside, her non-beating heart was breaking. What did Adaru mean by ‘former memories will disappear’? Will he completely wipe away her memories of good times, the ones that actually mattered? Holding onto the past would be a disaster and would ruin her in the rest of eternity, but knowing something could keep the nostalgia alive.

“Now, let us celebrate our marriage!” Katharine ordered the crowd in the strongest regal voice she was able to muster. “We shall celebrate until dawn rises!” She turned to the organist. “Would you be able to play the song that I heard at my turning ceremony?”

“You mean Blackest Rose?” Paolo’s voice suddenly said from behind her. Katharine had to bite on her lip to prevent breaking character and spitting out another death threat.

“If that’s what it’s called, sacrifice,” Katharine replied arrogantly.

The organist begun the piece, and Paolo began his waltz with Katharine. She had no choice but to agree, but remembered that in her character, she could fire off some witty comebacks regarding how much Paolo embarrassed her in her first undead moments.

“Katharine, I am amazed by how much you’ve changed in the past few days,” the Strengoit filmmaker remarked as he spun Katharine around. “You went from blood donor to terrible actress to my future Queen. How did the time fly by so fast? What made you realize that this is your life now?”

“I suppose it was just luck,” Katharine said haughtily, trying to hold in her laughter as she glanced over at Lady Luck. She was fighting against the urge to transform into her succubus form upon seeing Katharine flirting with Paolo. “And of course, I had no choice but to accept my fate.”

“Excellently said.” He twirled her two more times before passing her off to the next lucky herald, who turned out to be none other than Jack the Clown.

Katharine’s eyes squinted in confusion. “You know how to dance, chaos?”

“I, uh…” Jack began, remembering what Adaru told him at the meeting. “No, but… uh… you look great in that dress, my Queen.”

“Thanks,” Katharine chortled, before moving on to Dr. Caine. “Hello, doctor.”

“A pleasure to see you back in my manor, Katharine,” Albert replied. “May I ask if you are still mourning the deaths of your father and friend?”

“A little bit,” Katharine confessed, “but they mean next to nothing to me anymore. I would like to visit them in your graveyard, sometime.” The lies she was forced to say made her burn inside. Her father and his beloved friend still meant a lot to her; they still remained her inspiration to fight again.

“Well, it is open to you at any time, my Queen. Let me be the first to say that your change is absolutely groundbreaking. Perhaps you are more open to…”

“To eating _gigot d’homme_?” Katharine chuckled. “Maybe.”

It was amazing how the heralds suddenly went from mind abusers to her future loyal subjects so fast, all because she flipped the coin, or her personality. It showed just how much power Adaru had over them; perhaps they were actually frightful of their master, too. She wondered how Elsa and Julian would act, whether or not they’d know this was only a clever facade.

Katharine was passed over to Cindy next, who wore a miniature version of what Katharine wore at her turning ceremony – a red dress with flowing sleeves that almost went down to her feet. “Hi, Katharine!” she squeaked. “You look amazing!”

“Thank you,” Katharine smiled as she bent down at her level and twirled her. It was sort of relieving to see the devil child acting so kindly. “You happened to like my dress at the turning ceremony? You look just as extravagant as I did.”

“Me, extravagant?” Cindy squealed. “My Queen, how could you say such a thing?”

Albert ushered Cindy away as someone new but somewhat familiar was placed in front of Katharine. His black bangs nearly covered his blue eyes, which were still full of life rather than glassy from death. He wore the red and black suit of a Strengoit noble, but Katharine knew he was anything but. Katharine gasped as quietly as she could, temporally leaving her Queenly status behind. “Chase?”

“Katharine, you remembered me!” Chase exclaimed, trying to fight back his tears of joy.

“Why would I forget?” Katharine asked, holding back her tears as well. She took Chase’s hand and led him to a hidden alcove right next to the staircase. As soon as they were hidden, Katharine kissed him right on the lips with a deep passion that she was holding back forever. “Chase, holy shit… I’ve missed you so much!”

“Did you see Lacey and Hayley too?” Chase asked her. She nodded. “Well, I’ll fill you in real quick. Lacey got bit by one of the Cerebin mutations a few nights ago. She was trying to escape from Eddie’s death trap maze, and as we were running away from the mutations, she tripped and got bit.”

Katharine gasped in horror. “And she… her soul is Adaru’s?”

“Unfortunately,” Chase replied sadly. “But she seems to be doing okay. She’s just got a bunch of fur growing in right now. Me and Hayley though, we’re okay. Still mortal. We’ve been living out with Anya and Alice in the cellar.”

“You’ve been here all this time?”

“Well, haven’t you? The girls were getting worried about where you were. They hadn’t seen you since the vampire and his goddess girlfriend took you in for a film shooting.”

“I guess I should fill you in, then. The heralds are just what you think they are: abusers, both physically and mentally. Paolo turned me into a Strengoit, and now, he thinks he’s my master. He made me be in one of his films, and I had to kill some people from high school.” Now, she was crying. “But Chase, somebody saved me from him. He’s a rebel just like us, and he’s been protecting me since the whole Paolo incident! You won’t believe who he is.”

“Who?” Chase asked. “Who saved you?”

Katharine paused. “Julian.”

“The usher?” Chase said incredulously. “That usher is your friend now?”

“Chase, Julian has been the kindest herald I’ve ever met so far. Elsa too! They’re both for the rebellion and they want to help us. How exactly, I’m not sure yet, but they’re definitely interested.”

“Kat, they’re trying to trick you! There is no way in hell that these heralds are actually going to help our cause! The usher nearly killed your father, and he almost ruined ZAP!”

“You don’t understand, Chase. I have spent some time with Julian, and he actually does seem to care. Just… some of these undead people aren’t all that bad. We need to stop thinking that all of them are going to turn us, because it isn’t true. The Undead ones… they’ve actually got some logic in them.” Kat tried to finish what she was trying to say, noticing Julian entering her peripheral vision. “Look, I’m not going to turn you in or act like the Queen or anything right now, but I’m going to introduce you to Jul—“

“No, you’re not!” Chase shouted. “I came to this dangerous place just to save you, Katharine! Me, Lacey, and your sister have survived through several people wanting to kill us, and now you’re saying that they’re the good people!”

“I am not, Chase!” Katharine argued. “Yeah, there’s some that still want nothing but flesh, but there’s others like Julian that actually want to help us!” Katharine started to feel the same burning sensation from when she was possessed by Adaru. She hissed and recoiled back, her amber eyes widening in hunger.

_Someone was taking over her again…_

“No…” Chase muttered to himself nervously. “It’s happening again…”

“You’re still mortal, aren’t you?” Katharine asked coldly. “Why are you here? This is a party for the undead elite only. How did you manage to sneak in?”

“Kat, stop!” Chase yelled. “We came here to save you!”

“I’m past saving, dear Chase.” Katharine’s eyes had become white. “I need your blood… I crave it…” This time, Katharine wasn’t playing pretend. All of the things she said to the mortal boy were lies, a mere act of grace before her true side took over.

_She was the Queen._

Katharine pushed Chase against the wall, wrapping her hand around his throat, but he managed to break free and bolt like crazy to the ballroom’s exit . All of the partygoers had stopped in their tracks to watch their future Queen chasing down her former mortal lover with the animalistic force of a Cerebin. Chase had his back rested against the ballroom’s closed doors, flinching as Katharine got closer to him, ready to drain him of his blood.

The crowd parted for Adaru and Lady Luck to pass. Paolo quickly followed, his camera capturing every moment. “What is wrong, my Queen?” Adaru asked Katharine, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“I have found Chase Killian, my lord,” Katharine answered, looking up at the monstrously tall demon that was to be her husband. “I believe my sister and Lacey Broussard are still on the run, too.”

“Then we shall kill him first,” Adaru ordered, grabbing onto Chase’s throat with only his one hand. “After all, each All Hallows’ Eve ball contains a sacrifice towards my power.”

“Don’t I get a small fraction of that?” Paolo asked. He received a sharp glare from Adaru in response.

“You said I could kill Chase Killian, my lord!” Katharine reminded Adaru as they proceeded back to the staircase arm in arm. “Remember when we were in the caverns and I decided to join your side? It was my promise to you!”

Lady Luck and the heralds joined Adaru and Katharine at the staircase as the partygoers watched in anticipation of what their future Queen would decide. Chase’s head was lay down on the block of a nearby colonnade like he was about to be decapitated. He was full on sobbing, snot and sweat running down his face as he awaited his cruel, unexpected fate.

“How should we rid of his soul, my Queen?” Lord Adaru questioned, wrapping his arm around Katharine protectively.

“I…” _This could save him_ , Katharine had to convince herself as her senses came back, her dead heart sinking when she saw Chase hysterically crying. A different kind of battle was going on in her mind, one where she had to fight for the one she loved. _He can’t see me like this. I’m too ruined for him now. I have to hurt him to save him!_ “I… I was going to use the traditional Strengoit method, my lord. Chase would make an excellent addition to my legion.”

“If that is what you desire,” Adaru crooned in Katharine’s ear. “One bite into his neck and the job is done. Besides, you’re looking a little too thin, my Queen. You will need fresh blood to rush through you if you want our heir to be healthy.” His sharp fingernail traced the outline of her waist.

 _Fucking asshole used me again_ , Katharine noticed as she got closer to Chase’s side. Adaru was taking advantage of her, using her to get what he wanted. She brushed away Chase’s bangs with her hand and buried her head into his neck. She tried to suppress her sobs, but it was made so obvious by the intense shaking she had to try and hold back.

“Katharine… no…” Chase choked. “Please, don’t do this. This isn’t you.”

“Chase,” Katharine whispered, sobbing, “I have to do this… to save you. They’ve found out, all of them. I’ve fooled them, I’ve… I need to keep this up if I want you, Lacey, and Hayley to be safe. I’m… I’m so sorry.”

“Can I tell you one last thing, Katharine, before I die? Before I slip into the eternal sleep that I’ve been waiting for since I was a teenager?”

“Chase, don’t say that… please…”

Chase lifted his head up, his hand caressing Katharine’s face. “You saved me. The Zombie Awareness Program has saved my life, but you especially have changed me. You were the only girl I felt comfortable around, the only one who actually cared for me. And now… you get to kill me, and rid me of the abusive memories that I can forget now forever.”

Katharine sobbed right into his neck. “I’m so sorry, Chase. I’m sorry all these undead fucks had to ruin our lives just to be in power. I’m sorry I led all of you into this trap, all because I was so fucking gullible and didn’t pay attention to the warning signs. I’m… I’m sorry you had to suffer like this.”

“Katharine, I love you. Just kill me now. Do it for the both of us.”

“I love you too, Chase. I’ll see you in the afterlife.”

Chase’s rushing pulse beat against Katharine’s lips. It was so tempting, a hint that fresh blood still flowed through his veins. As she parted her lips to give her lover one last final kiss, Katharine heard a girl in the crowd scream, “Katharine, no!”

Before she could realize that the girl in the crowd screaming at her was her own younger sister, Katharine tripped on the skirt of her dress and fell on top of Chase, her teeth piercing deeply into his neck.


	24. Sinister Forces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the Caine manor ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was one of my favorites to write, especially the scene with almost all of the icons present! I think this is the point in the story where everything's intensified, especially since Halloween's coming close. Anyway, the usual trigger warnings apply. Enjoy!

**21\. Sinister Forces**

Katharine struggled to pull her fangs out of Chase’s neck, stuck in between his jugular vein. The strong taste of the blood, her own boyfriend’s blood, made Katharine nauseated. She trembled again, the peering eyes of the legions watching their Queen’s every movement. The tears came pouring out, ruining her black makeup as it rushed down her face. When she finally detached herself from Chase and her fangs were free, her senses returned to her, releasing them in one huge, bloodcurdling scream.

Adaru had manipulated her once again, but in the most complex way she’d ever confronted. Not only did she have to kill Chase for the Strengoit legion and his soul, but she had to kill him to save his life. She killed him without a second thought, and it was all because of the demon, how he plagued her mind and searched for the things that would hurt her the most.

Hayley and Lacey rushed up the staircase, joining Katharine’s side as she bent down to the floor, unable to control her shaking and sobbing. Hayley placed an arm on her sister’s shoulder; the sight of her inspiration breaking down broke her. Lacey got on all-fours and crawled to Katharine’s side, before remembering that a whole audience was watching her, including the Strengoit girl she flirted with. She quickly rose to her feet.

“Kat,” Lacey said, “we know that demon made you do this. He’s a—“

“What have they done to you?” Katharine asked her quietly, noticing her comrade’s fur and teeth that Chase had told her about. “They made you suffer too… you better get away from me before it comes back—“

“But Katharine, we’ve finally found you!” Hayley whispered. “We can’t let you go all because of the—“

“Get away from me!” Katharine shrieked, shaking with tears. “I’m a monster now! I killed Chase, don’t you understand that?”

“Kat, the demon made you do it!” Lacey repeated, this time with genuine sympathy.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? Get away from me! Warriors, take them away!”

“But Kath—“ Hayley tried to say. An armed Baccanoid tightly grabbed onto her shoulder and led her back downstairs, along with Lacey.

Katharine tried to slip back into her new Queen persona, but it was too difficult for her, unable to even think of anything other than the fact that she just killed one of her loved ones. The heralds just watched from behind her, not giving her words of sympathy or reassuring looks. They shrugged it off, knowing that she did her task.

All except for one who walked down and placed his hand on Katharine’s shoulder, much to the shock of the undead in the audience.

“I’m going to get you out of here,” Julian whispered.

Katharine turned to face him, his mismatched eyes full of sympathy. He was able to understand her struggle now that she told him part of her story. Now, he was able to understand what guilt truly felt like when robbing someone of their life.

“I…” Katharine was startled to see Julian’s gloved hand outstretched toward her. It reminded her of when she first met him, when he gave her a “choice” whether or not she would go to her trial. Of when he told her about the true meaning of the rules. This time around, she was sure she was able to trust him. “Okay.”

“Where are you taking her, Vengeance?” Adaru barked. “She must remain here!”

“You must excuse Lady Katharine in her moment of grief,” Julian told the demon coolly. “Surely you would have some empathy for your bride-to-be in her… hardest of times. Or is that something you have forgotten throughout these cycles ?” Adaru roared loudly, watching as Julian quickly ushered Katharine out of the ballroom.

“Someone go after them! Not only did one of my heralds just _backtalk_ to me like I am some useless _servant_ , but he’s taking my bride away!”

Julian held Katharine’s hand tightly in protection as they stormed out of the Caine manor and into the woods, his flashlight serving as a light in the near total darkness. “They should’ve never treated you like that,” Julian told her angrily, shining his light to find the entrance of the Portmanteau. “They treated you like total scum. The demon made you kill someone from your past without your thoughts in mind, made you think differently just to serve _him_.”

“And they were my thoughts,” Katharine clarified, “thoughts I’ve always been scared of. Adaru made me use those because they were things I feared. He’s a manipulator. He’s changing me, and he’s… making me what I never wanted to be. He’s hurting the ones I love!”

Julian turned his totem and his gold piece ignited, bringing the lobby hallway of the Universal Palace into view. “And thus the rebellion will begin.”

* * *

**LACEY AND HAYLEY**

 

Hayley and Lacey rushed through the parlor, passing lingering undead that were beginning to take note of what was happening. They nearly collided into Anya and Alice, who were carrying out huge silver platters from out of the ballroom. Lacey hissed and whined at the metal, curling into a ball on the floor as it temporally blinded her, burning her eyesight.

“I forgot Cerebins have a thing against silver!” Alice quickly exclaimed, rushing to the dining room to set the platters down.

"There you guys are!" Anya said in relief. "We were just about to check in on you!"

"What happened?" Alice asked when she returned.

"We, uh..." Lacey was speechless. So much had occurred that she couldn't put into words what was going on.

"Chase is dead!" Hayley gasped out. "Katharine killed him!"

"She… she what?" the servants asked in unison, horrified.

"Kat, she..." Lacey began. "She's going to become Adaru's queen on Halloween night. We all thought she was going to rebel, but... it looked like she actually wanted to be his queen, like she forgot about us. She was talking to the heralds and enjoying herself and—“

"No!" Anya gasped. "Katharine isn't that type of person! She couldn't have—“

"But she did." Anger rose in Lacey's already guttural voice. "But... Kat regretted it, almost like someone took over her mind and made her kill Chase. Before we could even talk to her, the Baccanoids took us away, and we managed to break free from them."

"Adaru did it!" Alice realized. "He took over Katharine's mind and made her think that way, which is why she killed Chase. He's been doing that for ages now, the whole mind control possession thing. He does it to me and Anya too!"

"Whenever we think negatively about our jobs or the heralds, we feel this weird burning inside of our heads," Anya explained. "Then, before we can even make out what's going on, we're suddenly thinking obediently, like we're going to get in trouble or something."

"I wonder if that's what Katharine felt like," Hayley thought aloud. "If only we... if only she didn't think that we thought she was a monster. She isn't a monster, she's my sister."

"And our leader," Alice added.

"We've got to follow her!" Lacey said. "I think the usher took her out, and we know how much he hates her! If anyone finds us, I think I can put these Cerebin tactics to good use." Before they could even move, two Baccanoid warriors charged into the parlor, their swords drawn out to kill the girls.

“Lacey, look out!” Hayley shouted as one of the warriors lifted up his sword behind her, readying to decapitate Lacey in a grandiose way.

Lacey growled, got on all-fours, and raced toward the warriors. She wrapped her mouth around their ankles, biting through the tight leather of their suits. Their swords collapsed to the ground as they bent down, writhing in pain as the pain took over.

"Nice one, Lacey!" Hayley said as she and Anya seized the swords from the passed over Baccanoids. Some masked Strengoits were making their way into the room, their fangs ready to catch her, the only mortal left in the room.

"Oh my god, I've never used a sword before..." Anya muttered nervously to herself, gripping on the sword's hilt, where ice had started to form from her nerves. "I've never killed anyone before..."

"Just don't think about the death of the dead!" Hayley told Anya, trying to remember Katharine's advice. "Just... just stab them square in the heart, with nothing to lose!"

"Uh... okay..." Anya squeaked.

"Come on, let’s go!" Hayley exclaimed as she and Anya ran toward the vampires.

Hayley took her sword and jammed the thick blade right into a Strengoit's heart, causing him to bleed out and collapse, his skull crashing into the tile floor. Anya held her sword out in defense as a group of Strengoits loomed toward her, ready to suck out her blood. Thinking quickly, she spun around and sliced the blade into the vampires, which made them bleed out simultaneously until deep gashes stained their fancy clothing. When she was done, she lifted up her hands and froze the corpses, as sheets of ice shot from her palms.

Meanwhile, Alice and Lacey were battling against a combined group of Strengoits and Baccanoids. Alice took out spiked jawbreakers from her apron and wrapped her hand tightly around a Baccanoid's throat, forcing his mouth open and dropping in the spiky candy that would tear up his insides. When she heard a Strengoit hissing behind her, Alice quickly took the injured Baccanoid's sword, spun around, and sliced the Strengoit's throat, cheering in glee as blood rushed down it like a river. Lacey used her newfound tactic of biting ankles and legs, and occasionally necks if she was up to it. She got down on all-fours to kick the remaining Strengoit with her "hindlegs", who then toppled back and collapsed onto the dead piles of vampires.

By the time the girls were done, the white tile floors of the parlor were red with blood, and a wind chill made the atrium colder. Some of the members of the Strengoit and Baccanoid legions were now deceased for good, never to return to afterlife. Once they were fatally wounded or injected with the bite of another legion, there was no going back. Now, their souls could be released from Adaru's grasp to rest in peace, without the threat of war and the task of death in their rotting minds.

"We... we did it," Anya gasped, wiping her blood-stained hands on her apron. "We did our _coup d’état_!"

"Man, that felt good," Alice said breathlessly. "I've wanted to kill some of those undead freaks for a long, long time!”

"We still need to go find Katharine, though!" Hayley reminded the girls. "She's probably miles ahead with the usher now!"

"What about Chase?" Anya asked.

"He's... we can't save him," Hayley said. "He's probably already turned."

Anya and Alice looked down guiltily as Albert walked into the parlor, followed closely behind by two of his followers and Cindy. The followers dragged the corpse of Chase at their heels like he was another one of Cindy’s playthings, playing with his hair and opening and closing his eyes. Once Chase was set down on one of the couches, the two followers ran behind Hayley and Lacey and forced their arms behind their backs.

“Under the word and law of Lord Adaru, you four are under arrest for supporting the rebels’ cause and infiltrating my manor,” Albert explained.

“But we—“ Hayley began.

“I don’t want to hear it, mortal girl. Do you think I am blind? I saw you four murdering the Strengoits and Baccanoids. Besides, none of you are undead elite, so why are you here?” The four girls glanced nervously at each other as Albert continued. “All of you will be kept imprisoned until the next day, in which you will be put on trial and possibly sentenced to the stripping of your undead rights.”

“That’s bull!” Alice exclaimed angrily. “We don't have any rights in this society!”

“Lord Adaru’s words, servant!” Cindy giggled.

The followers pushed Hayley and Lacey over to the couch where Chase lay, so the sight of their fallen comrade could depress them once more. Chase’s skin was so white that purple veins showed through, and dark circles were forming under his eyes. He was not yet a Strengoit, since he was still in a corpse-like state, but was well on his way to becoming one.

“Identify the corpse,” Albert told the girls briskly.

“That’s… Chase…” Hayley started to reply, but she couldn't continue, the sight of Chase's corpse too overwhelming for her to bear.

“Chase Killian, twenty one years old,” Lacey barked. “Is that all you need for your torture experiments?”

Albert surveyed Lacey, his eyes widening upon noticing Lacey’s jutting fangs and cat-like yellow eyes. “Wait a moment,” he mused, “you’re a mutation, are you not? You appear to be half a Cerebin and half a Maschorian.”

“What does it matter to you?”

Albert didn’t answer, a smirk growing on his face. “Unhand the mutation and hand her to me,” he instructed his followers. “I’ve been waiting for a mutation to show up in my manor for quite some time now. It’s only better for my research… as for the other three, chain them in the boiler room until we decide what to do with them.”

The followers obeyed as Hayley started to shriek with tears once again, her final companion gone and handed over to the heralds. The way Hayley saw Albert handling Lacey like a dog made her want to break. She screamed in pure agony as Lacey was dragged to the ground, her head forced up by a rope one of the followers tied around her neck. The follower restraining Hayley placed his hand over her mouth in an attempt to silence her.

“Hayley, you’ve got us!” Alice cried. “We’re going to find everyone, don’t—“

Alice immediately stopped talking as her master turned to face the captives. “Now that Lord Adaru has received enough souls to remain alive on mortal ground, no one is safe,” Albert warned, before he turned and disappeared in the hallway. All the girls could hear now was Lacey’s sad whimpers echoing around them as the followers pushed and shoved them out of the parlor and into the woods.

* * *

**THE ORDER**

 

“Where did he take her?” Lord Adaru demanded angrily, ripping off his elaborate skeletal mask as he stalked around the ballroom, frustrated with Katharine’s sudden disappearance. “Where is my bride?”

“We… we have no idea where she went, sire,” Elsa told Adaru in the calmest tone she possibly could. Posing her loyalty to Adaru while secretly being a rebel was definitely not the best suit for her at the moment. “Last time I saw her, Julian was trying to help her cope with the devastation of killing her friend.”

“Since when did the fool have feelings?” Jack asked, cackling. “Last time I checked, all he wanted to do was go steal popcorn and cry over _The Phantom of the Opera_!”

“Yeah, he’s such a loser!” Chance added.

“I haven’t seen Julian around, either,” Luck added, rolling her eyes upon the continued mentions of the usher. “It’s rather obvious he has something to do with Katharine’s disappearance. The Kerezan fool is trying to hide her from us!” She glanced over at Jack, who was now preoccupied with making out with Chance. “Jack! Did you see where Julian and Katharine went?”

Jack jolted up from Chance’s lips. “Nope, haven’t seen them, although we all know that our future Queen has a habit of escaping from royalty.”

“You got that damn right,” Chance snickered.

“Either way, I want Katharine at my side for the days leading up to All Hallows’ Eve,” Adaru told his heralds, his anger slowly dying down. “To be honest with you, I am getting highly suspicious of Vengeance… the usher. I watch him at our meetings, and he seems to be quite repulsed to be in my presence. He hasn’t been sneaking around with the rebels like Edgar did, has he?”

“No, sire!” Elsa said quickly, trying to dispel that Adaru somewhat knew the truth. “I know nothing of the sort. After all, Julian is a disciplined herald. He knows better to send the souls your way.”

“Mother,” Paolo whispered loudly, “you know of Julian’s plans for rebellion, don’t you?”

“Hush, Paolo!”

“Rebellion?” Jack said loudly. “Who the fuck would plan a rebellion at this point? Adaru’s getting all the power he needs to take over! There’s no stopping him anymore.”

“Ooh!” Chance squealed. “Julian’s planning a rebellion! Julian’s planning a rebellion!”

“What?” Adaru practically roared. “What is this talk of rebellion and Vengeance?” He turned to the goddess of fate herself. “Fortuna, I demand you tell me what is occurring! You should know!”

Luck cleared her throat before she began to speak. “Julian is allying with Katharine to rebel against your ascension to the mortal world, my lord. I managed to catch some pieces of information while I was checking on the girl—“

“She will be your _Queen_!”

“Sorry… I was checking on your Queen’s fate last night, and while I did, I overheard the entire ordeal. She has plans to reconcile with her comrades and servants to overthrow the Order.” Luck smiled nervously. “Is that what you sought for, Adaru?”

“She’s telling the truth!” Paolo added.

Adaru’s furious roar pierced the veil of momentary silence. “I want him dead!”

“But Julian is undead, my lord!” Jack said.

“I know _that_ , you Morphan fool! It is possible to drive a Kerezan to extinction! Do you not recall that blood drainage is by far the strongest way to kill one? Or perhaps a stake through the heart, like the Strengoits?” Adaru took a breath before continuing. “You all took an oath of loyalty before Fortuna inducted you into the Order. If you go against my word and law by rebelling against my power, you will be cast out and turn to dust!”

Everyone in the room quivered at the thought of permanently dying. “But… but what about Katharine, my lord?” Elsa questioned.

“She is different,” Adaru growled. “She will still become my Queen, even if it is her final sentence for killing my legions. It is no longer her choice, and now, she shall suffer!”

“It’s her fate,” Luck muttered under her breath. Adaru had no right to make decisions for his people. If she wanted to gain her power, people had to decide upon their fates and direct them to her, not to a God of Fear who could care less.

“I have a new task for all of you,” Adaru continued. “I am aware I am piling work upon you, but this new one is for the best. If we want my rule to be successful, and for Katharine to have no choice but to join me, we must begin to destroy the things she loves. Nothing will work with this girl, so I want the Universal Palace Theater destroyed and Vengeance brought to me.”

“We can’t destroy that damn movie theater by Halloween!” Jack complained.

“Anything’s possible, though,” Chance told him. “We’ve got a little pyrotechnic roaming around this place. Don’t you know Cindy?”

“I’m always forgetting about that kid’s power,” Jack mumbled. “Hell, she’s strong enough to be a herald herself.”

“You are to make Katharine Romero suffer through any means,” Adaru continued. “She is still a rebel despite the façade she puts on around me. I want her to know that I am not that gullible for fall for her charms.”

“I’m still for the idea of her transferring to Cerebin,” Paolo remarked.

“Would you shut up?” Luck hissed, leading Paolo away from the group. “Katharine is proving to be quite a fine Strengoit, but I am wondering how she remains alive despite her low blood levels. We’ll need to give her more…”

“Maybe from the deceased mortals,” Paolo suggested, “and not just any old mortal, but the ones she was always hanging out with.”

Luck’s green eyes widened. “That’s actually not a bad idea. I’ll have to tell Albert to save the corpse of that boy. It’ll show her that Fear’s the only one left. But…”

“But what?” Paolo asked in concern.

Luck lowered her voice to a whisper. "Fear is becoming an element of human emotion that is overused. Where would fear be without fate? Fate is the basic structure for everything, and I feel as if Adaru isn't seeing it anymore. He's too self-absorbed with his own power..."

“What are you talking about, Fortuna?”

Luck shook her head as Adaru approached the Strengoit couple; at the time, nothing could be kept a secret from him anymore, especially the words from his loyal mistress. “I will have to discuss it at a later time. All I know is that I cannot be of Adaru’s servitude anymore if all he wants me to do is configure fates for his own needs.”

“So you’re saying you’re a rebel, too?”

“Not quite, but… fate will always be more powerful than fear.” With that said, Luck excused herself, stating she had to decide the fates for Hayley, Anya, and Alice, and disappeared in a cloud of green mist, leaving the heralds and even Adaru confused as to whose side she would act on now.

“Geez, what’s her problem?” Jack remarked. “Seems like someone’s had a bug up their ass lately.”

Adaru turned to Paolo sharply. “What did she tell you?”

“Uh… nothing of your concern, my lord,” Paolo stuttered. “You see, Fortuna is very busy handling with the last few mortals’ fates, so you shouldn’t keep on interrupting her. She only told me her work is very important right now, and that our love will become stronger with time.”

“Oh… that is all? I must say, Sacrifice, you are doing very well with your work. You’re proving to be the most efficient of my heralds so far, with your… interesting ways of sending mortal souls to me. They are very fitting for Sacrifice as well, forcing your actors to submit to the art of pain.”

“Why, thank you, Lord Adaru. I do the best that I can for you.”

“And you know, Paolo, that I believe I can fully trust you now. What if I declared you my leading inquisitor as a reward for your loyalty? You can drive away the mortals and capture the rebels just as easily as you make your films.”

Paolo was surprised. All these years of trying to please Fortuna and Adaru led up to this, the title he was aiming for. High inquisitor – the job Julian should’ve taken on. Adaru trusted him as much as he did with Albert, and now, he had to prove that his work should earn him the right to keep on living. “It is an honor that I will gladly accept, my lord. I thank you kindly for considering me.”

As Jack and Chance mockingly applauded, Paolo cast a boastful look toward Elsa, smiling so widely his Strengoit fangs were visible. His adoptive mother had no choice but to sadly watch on her son’s success, shaking her head. Fame was always something Paolo strived to achieve, but in every circumstance, it corrupted him.

Fate declared it so, even in this moment, as she watched on invisibly, nearly broken-hearted.

 

 

 

 

 


	25. Primal Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lacey awakens in Dr. Caine's laboratory, where she is forced to watch one of his cruel experiments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was sort of interesting to write. One of the biggest challenges I had was figuring out how to write the reanimation scene that you'll see. I did some research and found out about this weird project done back in the 1940s (I think) that involved a preciously deceased dog. Obviously staged in the end, but the stuff being used looked pretty legit! 
> 
> Anyway, the usual trigger warnings are in effect. Also, this chapter is a bit gory, since we're in Dr. Caine's lab after all. Enjoy!

**22\. Primal Scream**

**Thursday, October 28th, 2010. Dr. Caine’s laboratory. 6:34 pm.**

**LACEY**

Lacey's eyes opened, seeing nothing but darkness all around her. The strong aroma of formaldehyde lingered in their air, and her strong sense of smell did nothing to alleviate her headache and throbbing eyes. She held a furry hand in front of her, and her knuckles bumped against a thick, solid bar; she was caged, like an animal, with no means of escaping. Light then flooded the room as two of Dr. Caine's followers stumbled in, giggling to themselves as they had a pretend swordfight with their mini scalpels.

Startled, Lacey yipped quietly as a loud, heavy thump crashed onto an observation table in the center of the laboratory. She knew the thump came from Chase’s corpse being slammed onto the table like a child’s plaything, how the heralds saw all of them. They wanted them to be mindless puppets, dangling at the strings that Adaru wanted to control them with, much like how Lady Luck configured their fates. She couldn’t play this game anymore. Lacey want to fight them now, but friendship came first – Chase, Hayley, and especially Katharine had to be with her.

Chase’s corpse was being strapped onto the table, the sound of creaky buckles echoing throughout the room. He would be a specimen to the hellish experiments he was soon to endure; it was beyond Lacey’s wildest imagination as to what they would entail. Everything horrific she encountered and witnessed came back to her. Eddie’s decapitation and revival, the RUN maze. This time, it was coming full circle since she and Chase were captured, and now, the heralds could finally play. They were marionettes now; one false move and the strings would be cut.

Dr. Albert Caine strode into the room, his usual nobleman air present. Lacey had heard several scary stories from Katharine and Tom regarding his past as a surgeon. He was the Dr. Joseph Mengele of Carey, having been known to cut into innocent souls since the 1940s, as she heard from Tom one day. If he thought you were able-bodied and minded enough to take on some “volunteer work”, then you were a perfect candidate for his deeds. Since he was the herald of death, there was literally no escape from the reaper.

Lacey’s worry for Chase grew so much that she felt a pitiful howl coming on. He had been their leader before coming to the hell house, and he did a damn fine job with his position. Now that he succumbed and let the Strengoit curse slowly take its course, Lacey knew her time had come. She couldn’t become both a mutation and a lab experiment now; she had to save her comrades and Anya and Alice so they could all gain their right to freedom and justice. Lacey never forgot about her Mom’s death, bitten and turned into a mindless Kerezan just because she stepped out to check the mail. Her mother’s death taught her usually spoiled ass that everything came with a price, and to earn bliss, you had to fight for it.

“I have to earn bliss,” Lacey whispered to herself. “Just like Mama said.”

“Ah, good!” Albert said to his followers upon seeing Chase bound to the table. “You two have already completed one of your tasks! Our experimenting can start sooner, then.” Albert’s followers couldn’t answer, their tongues ripped out in exchange for their loyalty, so they grunted happily. “Abraxas, hand me my scalpel, if you will.”

Lacey shut her eyes and curled up into a ball as Abraxas approached her cage and bent down. The lab equipment’s probably kept over here, she thought as he got back up and retrieved said scalpel. Figures, they put my cage here so they have an excuse to glance at me. Abraxas returned to his master, holding his infamous mix of a pair of scissors and a scalpel in his hands.

The sound of the rusty scissors screeched as Albert pulled the blades apart. “It’s almost time for a new pair to be made, is it not?” Albert questioned. “I have had this pair since the twelfth cycle. I remember the moment fondly: Fortuna presented this to me back when I was inducted. Special gift from the Lord of Fear himself, she said… and to this day, it has been my most faithful weapon.”

One of the followers grunted a series of sounds as if he was asking a question. “Why, that’s a very good inquiry, Astaroth. What shall I be doing to our friend Chase Killian today? He was one of the last living mortals left. We will have to make his examination special, won’t we? Well, friends, I will tell you that we will reanimate Chase so that he can serve with the legions.”

“Get on with it,” Lacey said in a whispery growl to herself.

“Our future Queen attempted to change him to be one of those children of the night,” Albert continued, “the ones I so heavily detest.” He placed his thumb on Chase’s wrist, like he was checking for a pulse that obviously wasn’t there. “But, we all know mutations are possible, although they are against Lord Adaru’s word. Why does it matter? Mr. Killian is a rebel. So, he will be a rebel through blood as well as mind! It will be a groundbreaking perfection for the Baccanoids.”

“You lie,” Lacey muttered angrily. She watched in trepidation as Albert took off his hat and startled to place thin needle-like wires that were hooked to an electroshock-styled machine inside of Chase’s chest . The followers were getting antsy as they giggled in excitement, rubbing their hands together as Albert placed the final wire into the side of Chase’s neck where Katharine bit him.

“Now that I have all the wires in, we can start the electroshock treatments,” Albert mused as he jotted something down in a notebook. “How many shocks do you predict will revive Mr. Killian, Astaroth?” There was a brief silence as Astaroth held up a hand. “Five shocks, Astaroth? That’s a bit of a low number, but you never know! Electricity is rather powerful, as my old friend Dr. Frankenstein discovered.”

As Albert placed the defibrillator paddles on each side of Chase’s head, Astaroth started up the electroshock machine, the sound of sharp zaps making Lacey jump. She dug her claws into the material of her cage, anticipating the moment when she’d hear a loud zap and the sound of Chase’s writhing body. The first one came suddenly, the buzzing sound stinging her brain. Lacey was quick to look away; she couldn’t stand seeing one of her comrades in this much of unwanted distress.

“He’s not alive yet!” Albert shouted over the buzzes. “Keep it going!”

After about a minute of the intolerable noise, Lacey was surprised to see Chase jerking upward from the table, his once restrained wrists now breaking free. His hands, now wider than Lacey remembered, clenched against Albert’s throat, but Albert was quick to push Chase back down onto the table. Astaroth turned off the electroshock machine and restrained Chase’s head with his hand.

“Brilliant!” Albert exclaimed, rushing back to his notes. “He has received what appears to be super strength, a common genetic of the Maschorian legion. Not what I was expecting, but still successful!”

“Great, another Maschorian,” Lacey mumbled in a somewhat relieved tone.

“All right, then.” Albert walked back up to his writhing patient. “Chase Killian, you have been brought back from the dead with the assistance of some new technology I have been working on since the sixteenth cycle. How do you feel, boy?”

“Uh…” Chase’s voice had gotten deeper. “Not too different, I guess.”

“Good, you still have the ability to speak,” Albert noted, “but you might want to spit out your last words. I’m afraid your capability of speech will not last for much longer.”

“What the hell do you mean?” Chase asked angrily.

“I have revived you,” Albert informed him, “and I very much think living in the afterlife would be better than passing the eternal veil of sleep, would it not? I will need some pension for my work, Mr. Killian. I have noticed that you have a sharp tongue, a rather dirty one to be specific. I am sorry to tell you, boy, that now that you are a mutation of the Strengoit and Maschorian legions, your words will not matter much.”

Astaroth and Abraxas giggled as Albert got closer to Chase. “You will need to thrive with only your teeth and super strength now. They are your new tools of survival, instead of those silly chainsaws and crossbows. Now, open your mouth wide… I promise, this will only take a minute.”

“No!” Lacey gasped quietly to herself. They were going to cut Chase’s tongue out ! Her hands wrapped around the bars, shaking them to try and get out, to no avail. She wanted to scream, tell him what they were going to do, but there was no way unless she wanted to get hers out, too.

Lacey looked away again as she heard Chase moan in pain as his ability to speak was robbed from him. In the brief moment when she was brave enough to see what happened, Albert held the organ in his hand, his face glowing with satisfaction. Another comrade of Katharine Romero was fallen and changed for the heralds’ purposes, exactly what fear ordered. Fear shot through Lacey as she remembered that Hayley was the final victim left; she couldn’t let them do anything with her. She was young, still inexperienced of how the rebellion worked. They couldn’t corrupt her now.

“Come on out, wolfgirl,” Lacey heard Albert order. “I want you to see what will happen if your words are against the Order now.”

Lacey was forced to crawl out of her cage, another reminder that to Albert at least, she was still an animal. Once she got onto her feet, Albert ushered her over to the examination table where Chase sat upright, his bloodied hand over his mouth. The transformation had taken over quickly; Chase ’s eyes were now yellow like Katharine’s, and his skin was so pale that the only color on him was from his veins. Two fangs jutted out from under Chase’s upper lip. The only pleasing part to Lacey was that Chase’s biceps had increased a bit in size.

“What did you do to him?” Lacey howled, rushing to Chase’s side.

“I did some experimenting,” Albert replied bluntly. “Part of my research was to find the result of how another legion’s genetics can alter the genetics from the one already hosted in someone’s body. I have used several methods, but it appears that the electroshock variant is the most successful. Mr. Killian has proven to be an excellent test, and in thanks for reviving him, I took out his tongue.”

“You freak!” Lacey hissed, striking Albert with her claws. She was pleased to see that his face had started to bleed. “I knew you were screwed up from the start! You don’t just inject someone with another legion, you just let them live as they are!” Her face fell when she realized that was Adaru’s preference. “Don’t you know that’s what your freak demon wants, anyway?”

Albert eerily smiled. “It shall be another reason why Adaru would like to banish him from eternity, yes. He can live out the rest of the days until Sunday as what he is now.”

Lacey undid Chase’s restraints and helped him off the table. “We’re getting out of here,” she growled as she placed her arm over Chase’s waist. “We’ve got yet another search party to conduct now that our allies are gone, and I’ve got no time to waste dealing with some crusty undertaker who wants to harm my friends. You may have gotten away with it this time, but oh boy, you’re going to pay come Halloween.”

“Fine, go ahead,” Albert said curtly as Abraxas handed him a handkerchief, “but when we reconcile on All Hallows’ Eve, do not try to tell me that I hindered your plans once more. The best protection right now is here, and—“

“Yeah, don’t give me excuses, buddy. I’m done with that shit. But, I would like to know where the three girls are, because I know you have them hiding somewhere.”

“I cannot tell you unless you would like to pay me some pension as well. To be honest, I would like your tongue in my collection as well.”

“I think I gave you your pension.” Lacey grabbed a syringe filled with a red liquid laying nearby, and aimed it right at Albert’s face. “Now, tell us where Hayley, Anya, and Alice are, unless you’d like an injection and possibly a bite, too.”

After a slight hesitation, Albert replied, “I believe Elsa has them. Where exactly, I do not know, for they are not of my concern, but I last saw them with her.”

“The old lady…” Lacey remembered. “All right, thanks. Hope to be kicking your ass on Sunday, then. Come on, Chase.”

Lacey and Chase walked out of the laboratory and tried to navigate the Caine manor’s lengthy hallways, before finally returning to the parlor about ten minutes later. Lacey sighed in disgust upon noticing that they weren’t alone; Cindy, Albert’s daughter, had set up a tea party with a few discarded corpses in various states of decay.

“ _That kid’s sadistic_ ,” Lacey heard Chase’s voice say in her head.

“Chase, did you say something?” Lacey whispered.

“ _Uh, I did_.”

She heard his voice again. “You’ve got ESP or something?”

“ _It looks like I’ve got telepathy now that I don’t have a tongue, so yeah, I guess so. Must be a Strengoit thing back from when Kat bit me_.”

“Can you hear what I’m thinking now?” Lacey tried to return the favor.

“ _Yup, perfectly clear_.”

“Thank God I can still hear your voice! But, you have to promise me something. If somehow I think of perverted stuff and you manage to hear me, don’t remind me. Okay?”

“ _Challenge accepted_."

“Oh, shut it, you. Hey, here comes that old lady that guy said has Hayley and the others.”

Elsa walked up to Chase and Lacey, relief in her eyes. “There you two are!” she said in an oddly jovial tone, which made Lacey scoff. “I need to take you somewhere where they cannot find us. We have important things to discuss.”

“What? How you’re holding our comrades captive?” Lacey snarled defensively.

“Albert told us you’re hiding Hayley, Anya, and Alice somewhere. You better tell us or else—“

“Would you please hush, girl?” Elsa asked, raising her voice slightly but retaining her politeness. “If you would calm down and let me thoroughly explain while we cross through the Portmanteau, I will tell you everything that is currently going on with our rebellion. Follow me.”

“Rebellion?” Lacey lowered her voice. “You’re with us?”

Elsa nodded tersely, bringing Chase and Lacey out into the woods. They exchanged confused looks, shrugging as they crossed through a dark portal that appeared tunnel-like. If they wanted the information they needed for the uprising in Katharine’s absence, they too needed to turn the tables to squeeze out information. To them, Elsa was still an enemy. If she had just tricked them, they were ultimately doomed.


	26. Dead Soldiers' Waltz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katharine and Julian's relationship strengthens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I'm going to say is BE PREPARED FOR FEELS! That is all. Also, kudos to you if you get the HHN 18 reference!
> 
> Lyrics are from "Hand in Hand Again" by Charles Harrison, which is currently in the public domain. (It's also on Midnight Syndicate's 'The 13th Hour' album!)

**23\. Dead Soldiers' Waltz**

**JULIAN**

**Universal Palace Theater, 7:16 pm.**

_The Phantom of the Opera_ never got old despite its age. The way Lon Chaney, Sr. transformed himself to play the nearly pitiless but tragic monster still astounded Julian to this day, and the way the story unfolded the screen was near perfection. He had seen the other Phantom films, from Claude Rains to Robert Englund, and none of them compared to the original. The mysticism and terrible beauty of the film reminded him of the past, where he stood as a young man, ushering over the very first screening at the Palace. It was the best day of his life. The Phantom had inspired him to be the Palace’s loyal guardian, her one true love.

But tonight, Julian wasn’t entirely focused on Chaney’s performance or the set design as he usually was. He observed Katharine as she sat in the fifth row, watching the film in a transfixed gaze. When they had returned from the Caine manor’s ball, she was a wreck, crying and screaming to herself that she was a monster. She was so broken by the accidental killing of her lover that she hadn’t uttered two words to him since their return. Julian wanted to console her so badly, tell her he had done _far_ worse things to people he thought he cared about, but when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out.

They were at the scene when Christine had to make her fateful decision, to either stay with the Phantom and marry him, or leave with Raoul and have the Paris Opera House perish. Her hand levitated over the scorpion one moment and the grasshopper the next. Julian saw himself in the Phantom when he stood in one of the Awareness Program’s training rooms, threatening Katharine’s life through choices. He tried to sound imposing, trying to fulfill his role as the herald of vengeance, but the words came out too forcefully, too dictating. He had scared her too much, even hurting her father through Adaru’s influence, but he wasn’t able to tell her of his true mission, that the demon controlled him. No one would believe him.

No one would understand.

“Choose the scorpion!” Julian suddenly heard Katharine exclaim. She watched the film eagerly now, stifling a laugh. Normally, Julian would blind the patrons who dared to speak out, despising when they cat-called and hollered like drunkards. But tonight, things were different. It was good to hear Katharine speak again, especially in reaction to one his favorite scenes. “Oh, God damn it, it’s not that hard of a decision!”

Julian walked down and into Katharine’s aisle, immediately sensing fear in her when he shone his flashlight’s light on her. She had broken one of the rules, the Golden Rule, specifically. She bit down on her lip nervously, and her body started to tremble slightly. “Oh, sorry. I forgot I wasn’t alone.”

He shook his head and sat down in the seat next to her. “It’s good to hear your voice again,” he told her. “Are you feeling better?”

“A little.” Katharine’s voice became shaky.

He quickly changed the topic. “Have you… seen Phantom before?”

“Many times.” Her voice was distant, watching as Christine pleaded for the Phantom to let Raoul live. “Me and my dad always had this tradition of watching old horror movies every Friday night. This was one of my favorites. I don’t know why I always root for the whole villain and heroine relationship ordeal… there’s just some kind of contrast between the two that I like. Kind of like the Creature and Kay. Like Dracula and Mina. But that’s not saying I like Coppola’s version.”

“You don’t?” Julian said in surprise. “Normally, your generation would’ve liked the… newer versions.”

“Nah, I don’t see anything wrong with the classics. They’re grittier, straighter to the point. There’s none of that Twilight glittery bullshit. There’s just something really interesting about the way the stories are told through the acting… and the atmosphere that comes out of them, it’s something that can’t be replicated, like, at all. They’re more spooky. You get what I’m saying?”

“Of course I do. Hollywood is becoming a lot more commercialized and unoriginal than what it used to be back in the Golden Days. They keep recycling the same old ideas, trying to make them more… aesthetically pleasing for the younger patrons. Little do they know there’s already a film right in front of them that tells the story miles better than the newer one.”

“I know, right? Like, have you ever seen the remake of Night of the Living Dead?”

“No. I don’t screen remakes here, Katharine.”

“Oh, thank God! No one on the face of the Earth should see that abomination of a film. It did nothing to recreate that moody, creepy feel of the original! And Tom Savini directed it, too! Such a disappointment.” She sighed. “Christ, I’m starting to sound like my dad now.”

Julian chuckled. “I like this… film critic side of you, Katharine. I never knew we both had similar tastes in horror films. You’re a little… critical for your age. How old did you say you were again?”

“Twenty-two.” She froze. “So, since I’m Strengoit, that means I’m going to be twenty-two forever. Eh, it’s not a bad death sentence. And you are…?”

“ _Thirty_ -two, I think. It’s hard for me to remember simple things like age in this undead state.”

As Phantom reached its conclusion, one of Julian’s usherettes, a young girl with askew auburn ringlets rushed down the aisles, panting. “Uh, hey, boss, are you busy?” she asked. “You look like you… oh, hey, Katharine! I didn’t know you were in here, too!”

“Hey, Roxy,” Katharine said quietly. Their first meeting had given her all of the usherette's backstory. Apparently, Roxy had snuck into the Universal Palace with her friends in search of a ghost, and got more than what she bargained for. Julian had turned her into a Kerezan and forced her to work for him as punishment for breaking into the theater, but it seemed as if their relationship had mellowed out now that Katharine was here.

“One of the higher level Kerezans is out in the lobby looking for you, boss,” Roxy told Julian. “He goes by the name of… um… Charlie McPherson? He said you hired him to fix some of the projectors.”

“Oh yes, Mr. McPherson,” Julian remembered. “I forgot he’d scheduled an appointment.” He rose from his seat and whispered in Roxy’s ear. “Let Katharine know I have a special surprise planned for her tonight when the theater closes. Tell her to wear something… pretty.”

“Okay, boss!” Roxy replied in her usual chipper tone. “Come on, Katharine, I’ve got to take you downstairs while Mr. McPherson plays around! For some reason, he gets really scared around Strengoits. Nobody knows why. Oh, and he also hates bright lights.”

Katharine proceeded to follow Roxy out of the screening room, but stopped briefly in front of Julian. “I guess I’ll be seeing you later? I heard there’s a screening of Dracula at nine.”

“I just informed Roxanne that I have something planned for you tonight, Katharine,” Julian told her. “A little something… special.”

“Oh?” Katharine raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

Julian smirked. “I can’t tell you.”

“Well… okay then, I can trust you on that. It better not be turning me in to—“

“Don’t talk about him anymore, Katharine. That demon doesn’t matter to us.”

She nodded and followed Roxy out of the screening room, leaving Julian alone to watch the Phantom fall into the Seine River, drowning to a miserable death. If it wasn’t for Katharine, he would still be in the Phantom’s place – lonely, bitter, and thriving only by vengeance. He would drown to the surface with no possible way of getting out, struck down by his unredeemable past and the horrors he still had to confront.

_If only he could tell her…_

* * *

 

**KATHARINE**

**Julian's lair, 11:45 pm.**

She dreamt of the ball again, how she watched the Strengoits and Baccanoids waltzing in time with the orchestral music, their clothing and faces made up all elegantly. Had they been so beautiful and rich when they were alive, or were they lured into this lifestyle? This time, the ball was different; Hayley, Chase, and Lacey were nowhere in sight, and all the undead seemed happier, more jovial in her presence. Eerily enough, she was too; her heartbreak and tragedy felt like it had subsided.

She stood with Adaru on the platform of the staircase, his strong, brambly arm wrapped around her waist like she was a possession, a trophy wife. That’s precisely what she was in the dream – someone for Adaru to flaunt. He was whispering in her ear about how now they were married and she was his Queen, they could begin to seize souls in whatever city of Katharine’s choosing. He considered Orlando, Florida like Elsa had mentioned to her in the library, as an event in a theme park was using his identity falsely.

“You wouldn’t believe the lies they spread in Orlando!” Adaru told her. “Supposedly, I was the one to create all of their haunted houses and scarezones, as they called it. I did the work for a bunch of silly, foolish mortals. How dare they claim me to be some type of servant for them!”

“But maybe the fears you manifest inspired them to create those haunted houses,” Katharine advised. “They saw you as their driving force, their inspiration.”

Adaru was silent. “We can discuss this later, my Queen. We are about to begin the sacrifice.”

The dancing below them stopped, and the undead parted like the sea as a pale man was escorted up to the platform by two of the Baccanoid warriors. The sacrifice’s hands were chained and pinned to his back, and his mismatched eyes were dull, devoid of any emotion. He looked pleadingly at his Queen, unable to beg for forgiveness through words, hoping he would recognize her. Katharine was the only person who could save him from this act of execution he didn’t deserve.

But she had been reborn as Queen Katharina Acacia Adaru just days prior, and did not remember the tortured, vengeful soul of Julian Browning, her memories wiped away.

She didn’t remember anything from the past at all.

Katharine woke up from the nightmare, a scream stuck in her throat. Julian immediately entered her mind. Was he still in the theater, or had he been seized by one of his other heralds over the course of the afternoon, because of suddenly disappearing at the ball?

The thought made her stomach sink, and worry filled her. Julian was making an effort to redeem himself from the harm and pain he’d caused before. He couldn’t be found out by Adaru now, especially when the two of them escaped from the ball earlier.

Katharine got up from the bed, the pain in her leg still stinging. She stopped in her tracks to see an usherette with auburn ringlets leaning against the wall, playing with the creases of her jacket.

“Oh, you’re up!” the usherette said, running to the side of Katharine’s bed to help her stand. “Julian was wondering when you were going to wake up. It’s kind of been a while.”

“Julian’s still here…” Katharine said in relief under her breath. She looked up at the usherette, remembering her from an earlier time. “Hey, you’re the usherette that saved me from Eddie!”

“Yep, that’s me!” the usherette said happily. “Let me tell you, I was doing ticket booth duty, and once I saw you running down the sidewalk with that chainsaw maniac behind you, I had to do something!” She pursed her lips as if she forgot to say something. “Oh, wait a second. Didn’t I tell you that when we first met?”

Katharine stirred. Adaru had taken over her dreams, and with his presence came the temporary removal of her memory. “Shit, I’m really sorry about that, Roxy. I just had a terrible nightmare… he was going to kill Julian.”

“Oh my God, who?” Roxy asked excitedly.

“Adaru… he’s trying to take over me through my nightmares now, too! He wants me to be his perfect, soulless bride. He just wants everyone to forget me once I’m his Queen…”

“Well, no one here in this theater’s going to forget about you, because we care about you!” Roxy beamed happily. “You know, Julian never shuts up about you. You’re his muse, his inspiration! He—“ She covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, crap. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, I kind of already knew. We’ve had some talks about the rebellion and stuff, and I know he sees me as something more than fresh bait for the heralds. But, I’m sort of confused as to why he likes me so much. He used to despise me for killing the Kerezans, but now… now he’s talking to me like we’re best friends or something.”

“Well, maybe he’ll answer your questions upstairs. The boss sent me down here to come fetch you before we close tonight. He told me he wanted to make something up for you … something about a ball at the old Caine house?”

“Oh yeah, that…” Regret filled Katharine as she remembered standing at the staircase, Chase’s head leaning against a colonnade block as if he was going to be decapitated. “It’s better if you don’t bring it up. Something terrible happened…”

“I know,” Roxy replied, sympathy in her voice. “Julian keyed us in on everything that happened. He said the demon abused your mind again, and that you shouldn’t have been treated that way, especially if you’re going to be the Queen. You know… Julian really cares about you, Katharine. He wants to make sure the rebellion happens, and that Lord Adaru doesn’t get to control us. He says you’re the one who can lead us, that you know so much that can destroy the demon's power.”

“He… he really thinks that way?” Katharine was taken aback that her once sworn enemy thought so highly of her, so much she believed part of her stay in the theater may have been a trick. But the way Julian showed his passion toward their cause, the genuinely respectful attention he gave to her while speaking… it may be true after all.

“I’m saying stuff right out of the horse’s mouth, so yeah,” Roxy replied. “He’s actually sort of shy about the whole situation. It’s why you never really hear anything out of him. He felt terrible for how he treated you before you guys became allies, when really he wants to be your friend, so… uh… he wants to make you feel special before the war begins.”

“Oh, really?” _So he really does care!_

“Like I said, the bloke’s got some strong feelings for you. Now, hurry up, because we’re closing soon and he’s excited to get started! Oh, and wear something pretty! There’s some stuff in the closet!” Roxy rushed out of the bedroom, singing lyrics of a popular song from months ago to herself.

Katharine got out of bed and shifted through the vintage dresses, this time choosing a blue evening gown with ruffly sleeves. The thought that Julian kept dresses somewhat concerned Katharine. Was she just a prisoner who was given a level of respect, or something else? Maybe he collected these dresses for someone special from the past, or maybe they were brought over from the Caine manor for her?

Shaking her head, trying not to get rid of her thoughts growing in positivity about him, Katharine slipped on the dress, tied her hair up, and navigated the lair to reach the lobby of the theater, or “upstairs”, as Roxy called it. Jay and Oliver were playing miniature hockey with only with Skittles and Twizzlers at the concessions desk. Jay was intensely focused on trying to hit a green Skittle ‘puck’ to a stack of Twizzlers, while Oliver tried to swerve Jay’s Skittle with his grape one. His move was a failure, sending a small mass of Skittles skittering down to the floor.

“So, what’s the point of this game?” Katharine asked, stopping to observe them. Discreetly, she popped a strawberry Skittle into her mouth. “Whoever serves the most gets all the lime flavored ones?”

“Oi, she’s here!” Jay exclaimed, turning his head. Apparently, their game wasn’t as important as Katharine was. “Boss, Katharine’s here!”

“Damn, Jay, is this some type of special party or something?” Katharine chuckled. “You seem really excited.”

* * *

 

**JULIAN**

Julian walked out of one of the screening rooms he had checked over, preoccupied with turning off his flashlight. Anxious thoughts ran through his mind, nervous ones that ate at his brain. Did Katharine come up and accept his invitation? He wanted to make up everything for her, everything that was his fault. He hoped his version of the ball wouldn't upset her and bring back traumatic memories. He only wanted to do what was best for her, to make her feel welcome in his presence and in his theater.

He had even dressed for the occasion, as much as it made him feel uncomfortable. Before the ball, he went through one of the old closets of the Caine manor and stole a black long coat and matching pants, clearly from the era he had prospered in as a mortal. He couldn't remember the last time he dressed up for something he considered this formal, nonetheless an event like this. He was always stuck in his usual uniform, the only clothing he had. A memory of the only life he knew. It had been a long, long time ago since he participated alongside society.

Julian's mismatched eyes glanced up, catching sight of Katharine chuckling at Jay and Oliver. She was dressed in the old blue evening gown, his personal favorite that he had found along with his suit. Blue would go well with Katharine's demeanor and personality, he thought, the color of loyalty and confidence. And he was right; it suited her very well.

She was _beautiful_.

This was the rebel girl he had taken in, usually so brash and sarcastic and belligerent. But tonight, it was like a drift of wind had temporally blown away these characteristics, replacing them with gracefulness and grandeur. Granted, Katharine probably wasn't the type of girl to dress formally and carry herself with a regal, soft air, but to Julian, she appeared how a Queen should be - kind, but with self-assurance that everything would go according to her plan. Her undead beauty was another light in the room, and the life had returned to her and glowed up her skin this evening. She was his belle of the ball, and he would make every last effort to make her feel that way.

"Oh wow, Julian, you look good!" She had spoken, smiling warmly at him. It wasn’t a fake smile either, like he was usually accustomed to. It was genuine. She _cared_.

Julian was too astounded to even speak in her presence, mumbling a simple, "You too." He had no other words. She was to become Adaru's queen against her will, but in his mind, she was already his Queen. She had inspired him, spoke to him when the others didn't. He would be her most loyal subject.

Katharine noticed his awkwardness, walking to him from the concession stand. "You haven't been with a girl like me for a while, I understand. It doesn't really matter if you've got experience. We're dead, anyway."

Julian chuckled. "Right."

Roxy winked at the both of them and placed a record in the old record player. It had been here since the Palace's first days, a remnant of the glitzy past that was cast away in shadow. It sputtered and scratched before cranking out a dainty, longing tune, a song Julian hadn't heard since at least the 1930s. The returning soldiers from the war brought their lady loves to the theater, treating them with sappy romantic comedies starring the likes of Chaplin, while he crept away in the dark, watching repeats of _Phantom_ and _Dracula_. He craved to be one of those men ignited by love, wanting to embrace a lady with all the love he felt inside of him. He never had been able to.

_There were tears in the hour that was darkest_

_The hour that came just before dawn_

_But a smile lurks today Where a tear used to stray_

_And the curtain of darkness is drawn._

_Ev'ry heart is lighter Ev'ry smile is brighter_

_Sad "Adieu is changing to Hello" again_

_Sorrow walk'd before us But a pray'r watch'd o'er us_

_We stray'd far by here we are_

_Hand in Hand Again._

“Oh… we’re going to dance?” Katharine asked, taken aback as Julian placed his cold hands in hers. “I mean, I don’t know how to dance… I was just following—“

“I’ll show you,” Julian told her gently.

_Not a sparrow may fall from the tree top_

_Unknown to the angels above_

_So then why should our fears Turn our smiles to tears_

_Heaven watches o'er all hearts that love._

Julian led Katharine into a slow, awkward waltz, trying to emulate the dance she and Paolo had at her transformation ceremony. He had sensed her fear when she danced with the Strengoit filmmaker, the murderer of cinema who wanted nothing but her blood and her pain. In his hands and his embrace, he was relieved to see that Katharine had softened up, her posture straighter and more confident.

The dance actually had a certain passion that Katharine herself was noticing, even more so when she nuzzled her head into his shoulder. Now, the music became nothing but the song of his admiration for her. He was shocked, almost delighted that Katharine was beginning to reciprocate his feelings for her; this was the closest she ever got to him.

Was she... actually starting to like him?

Julian glanced over to his loyal employees, who watched with widened eyes. "Keep on going, boss!" he heard Roxy whisper loudly. “You’re doing great!”

_Sorrow walk'd before us_

_But a pray'r watch'd o'er us_

_We stray'd far buy here we are_

_Hand in Hand Again._

“You’re a pretty good dancer,” Katharine admitted as the song concluded.

If he still had a functioning heart, it would be beating with admiration in this moment, swelling with pride that Katharine was finally seeing him as something more than the vengeful usher everyone knew him as. Roxy, Jay, and Oliver applauded fervently when the record scratched again, signifying its end.

* * *

 

**KATHARINE**

"Wow, boss, we never knew you had it in you!" Jay said, wiping sweat from off his brow. "I mean, really, the dancing, and the perfect timing... just wow!"

"Pretty amazing, huh?" Roxy told her companions. "All these months of being cooped up here in the theater, and it turns out our boss is more than just what he appears to be!"

"Excuse us for a moment," Julian told his employees. He gestured for Katharine to take his arm, and he led her inside one of the screening rooms. Before they had made it in, however, she picked up fragments of the Palace employees' continuing discussion.

"I think he really likes her," Oliver told his fellow employees. "Like, I've been noticing a change in our boss since Katharine's gotten here. He's more nice, less... less of an ass. She's changed him somehow."

"Well, of course Kat's brought a change to this place!" Roxy replied. "After all, we know the boss has a secret power in him that he's always kept locked away forever!"

"Which one, though?" Jay asked. “We’ve got the rebel one down. What’s next?”

"Oh, Jay, I thought you knew! Don't you know that Julian might potentially know how to love again?"

The door swiftly closed shut, draining out the rest of the conversation. Katharine followed Julian into a row of seats, and sat down next to him, her gaze directed at the screen. Being alone with Julian, she wasn't sure how to feel. Initially, she would've grabbed at his throat and sliced it open, but now that they were allies and most importantly friends, she felt... different. Like she enjoyed being in his company. It wasn't love she felt, or pity, or concern, but maybe it was compassion. She felt bad for him as he tried to find his place out of the Order and in the rebellion.

She would help him, because he proved to her that he deserved her help.

“Is… is what they’re saying true?” Katharine asked Julian nervously, her hand playing with the silk of her dress. “That you might… uh…”

“Love you?” Julian’s voice was light. “I…I cannot exactly answer that now, but I will admit I have some rather strong… emotions for you.” Katharine blushed so hard that her nearly white skin started to redden. “Trust me, the importance you have in my heart is perhaps stronger than anything or anyone else. You’ve… you’ve inspired me, Katharine, to break out of this shell that’s constrained me for so long. I appear to be nothing more than a vengeful usher who’s sworn to loyalty in more ways than one, yet… what do you see me as, Katharine?”

Katharine hesitated. “Not a vengeful usher anymore, that’s for sure. I see you as… a friend. A potentially good comrade. I think you’re really trying to redeem yourself, Julian, with all the shit you did back at ZAP, and whatever you did in your past. You’re really making an effort.”

Julian took Katharine’s hands. “Katharine, are you happy here in the theater?”

“Oh, of course!” Katharine said with joy. “This is definitely better than being locked up in the Caine manor, always trapped with the thought that I’m going to get killed off for good. I love the movies, Jay and Oliver, Roxy… they seem like nice people.”

“Are you… happy in my company?”

“I… I would say so, yes…” Her words were dwindling nervously, unsure of what he would say next, like something terrible was on her mind.

Julian was quick to notice her hesitance. "My dear, is there something wrong?"

"Oh, uh... no. Just the usual thoughts about where my friends and family are." Katharine sighed. "I want to know where they are. I left them stranded at the Caine manor, all because of that freak demon—“

"He doesn't matter. You must learn to shut him out."

"But how, Julian? All I am is a weak vampire who's eventually going to become the demon's soulless bride. Don't you know he's eating away at all of my fears, gaining his power through me alone? At this point, I'm too weak to fight him. He's already won."

"Katharine, no. Don't speak such lies. You are much more powerful than you think. How do you think you managed to wipe away several of the legion members in one mission, when through immortality they are stronger? We are going to prove to him that the dead are of much more worth than he will ever think we are."

As Julian spoke, Katharine felt one of her fingers go cold. She glanced down and gasped, seeing that a small, silver band had been placed there by Julian, right next to Adaru's engagement ring. "Julian, I... I don't know what you're trying to tell me."

"Katharine," he said slowly, "I would like for you to become my mate."

"Your mate?" Katharine nearly shouted. "Like, your wife or something?"

Julian nodded slowly. This was exactly the reaction he feared. “I’m not asking you to agree just yet, but think carefully. Our plans for the rebellion go hand in hand. Our ideas… are so powerful together. If we join together in a marital union, it will show Adaru just how much strength we have compared to him.”

Katharine drowned out Julian’s words, thinking over the situation. The undead don’t really go for looks. They go more for how they kill the victim, how they survive in their legion. There isn’t really love among the undead, Paolo had told her. It was what Julian was trying to infer, but she knew he actually cared for her strongly. He almost worshipped her like some goddess, protecting her in every situation where harm would’ve come upon her. Paolo’s words still rang in her head – there isn’t love among the undead. They only worry about killing tactics; what if this was all about Julian seeking out for more vengeance to fulfill?

Katharine then remembered that she had to think about how _she_ felt. She was so used to putting others’ priorities ahead of hers that she didn’t have the time to stop and think how everything affected her. Ever since Julian saved her from Paolo a few nights ago, she’d been oddly intrigued by him. She never would’ve guessed that Julian was also a rebel; he seemed strict, uptight, but it was all because his vengeance overpowered him. He was going out of his way to care for her, giving her home in the theater and now hosting a private dance to make up for the trauma of last night. She wanted someone that cared for her feelings, someone that would understand… but the most important battle of her life had to come first.

“Julian,” Katharine said hesitantly, “I… um… I’m really sorry, but a marriage proposal isn’t going to make me feel better. I’d… I want to be friends with you still, but… I have a lot of burdens I need to recover from once all this crazy stuff’s over, and… it’s just that I’m not ready with all the things I still need to accomplish. Of course, I’m not going to be Adaru’s queen… we’re going to stop him still, together, and—“

Julian stopped her, his cold hand caressing her face. “I understand,” he said very quietly, almost like a whisper. “You must do what is best for you first. I apologize—“

Katharine wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Julian. You're the only one that's ever understood. Normally, I'm told, 'Give it a break, the undead won't last forever!', or 'Worry about yourself for once!' But I want to protect people when I still have the chance. I still need to find my friends, and have them meet up with our new comrades so we can strategize. How will I tell Chase and Lacey that you're my friend now? When will I see them again?"

“Elsa is supposed to be here any moment with the both of them,” Julian said as he led Katharine out of the screening room. “They were still at the Caine manor, but I believe they managed to escape. The wolf girl—“

“Chase!”

Katharine ran up to her comrades as they were led into the lobby by Elsa. She hugged her boyfriend tightly, kissing the spot on his neck that she had bitten under Adaru's influence. "I'm so sorry," she murmured, running her hand through his black hair. Lacey crawled up to Katharine's leg like a dog, getting her claws caught in the hem of her dress. "Lacey, what the hell are you doing?"

“Hi to you too, Kat,” Lacey said to her best friend brusquely. “To answer your question, I’m a Cerebin and Maschorian mutation now. Oh, and by the way, Chase can’t talk. Albert cut his tongue out.”

“What?” Katharine almost screamed. Chase started to open his mouth to give her proof, but Katharine placed a hand over it. “No, I believe it, Chase.”

“ _Can you hear me?_ ” Katharine heard Chase ask in her head.

“Telepathy, clever,” Katharine remarked. “Where’s Hayley? She’s not with you guys?”

“She… um… she was taken into one of the heralds’ custody,” Lacey said nervously. “I’m not sure who’s, because Albert Caine decided to drag me away like I’m some animal to his lab without saying goodbye. But supposedly, Elsa knows a little more than we do. We'll bring her up at the meeting.”

Katharine glanced over at Elsa and Julian, who were talking amongst themselves. “You guys know we can trust them, right?”

“ _Elsa, yes,_ ” Chase replied, “ _but I still don’t trust the usher. Something’s really off about him. Are you sure you weren’t reciting lines to me at the ball?_ ”

“Chase, I wasn’t,” Katharine told him firmly. “Julian, he’s… he’s changed quite a lot. Almost like he’s been reformed.” She noticed Julian was visibly distraught over something she didn’t know about, glimpsing at her every few seconds. Elsa had placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, whispering back a response. “He’s got all these plans supposedly, and he’s going to lead us to what we want. Who knows? He could help us win.”

Elsa and Julian then approached the comrades. “Come along now, we have a long awaited meeting to commence,” Elsa told them. “We must begin putting our plans into action lest if Adaru figures out our motives too soon.”

“I agree with you on that,” Lacey said, following Elsa and Chase to the screening room upstairs. “That would suck majorly!”

Katharine stayed behind with Julian, and once her comrades and Elsa were gone, she clasped her hand in his. She felt him briefly shudder, not used to human contact like this.

"You can tell us your plans now," Katharine told him warmly. "I can't wait to hear them!"

Julian’s posture softened, the normal tensity in his shoulders gone. Had she really defrosted him so much from who he used to be? The answer seemed to be yes, as she watched a genuine smile form on his face, one that read of excitement and belonging. “After you, my lady.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, as you can see, this (I think) is the first Halloween Horror Nights fanfic posted onto AO3!! Yay!! Umm... I don't have much to say other than that I'm excited to finally post this onto the Interwebs. The Horror Nights fandom is in need of some more creative minds, and I'm pleased to say that I've broken out of my shell a bit and decided to take up the task. Well, that's about it.
> 
> If you're reading this and you aren't really familiar with HHN's characters, I recommend you check out the HHN wiki or visit the past websites posted on horrornights.be!


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